Commenting on Peer's Posts

I really enjoyed reading Sam Greitzer’s blog post ‘VMA’s 2010.’ I too watched the VMA’s this year from a public relations standpoint and was very impressed by the variety of performers MTV selected, their use of special effects and the smooth transitions between the presenters, the performers and the video clips. I agree with Sam that MTV did a fantastic job of utilizing social media, such as facebook and twitter, to advertise the show, as well as pacing out their press releases to maintain consist buzz about the show. The 2010 VMA’s was a huge success and had over 11,000,000 views which is proof of MTV’s faultless implementation of public relations strategies, particularly in using social media.          

Caryn Lieberman’s blog post on ‘Online Advertising Trends’ was very thought provoking – as an iPhone user myself, her example of the iPhone piqued my interest. With the smorgasbord of apps available to us at the tip of our fingertips and the internet being readily accessible, our standards of how advanced technology should be are raised. In order for products and services to catch our attention in this day and age, the advertisements need to break through the clutter of ads that use mediocre technology to get their point across to audiences. Nowadays, in order for an ad to catch the attention of viewers, it must flash, be able to show video footage of its capabilities and/or display views at different angles – a basic print ad is no longer enough. Social media is a great platform for expected new technologically advanced ads, for example, the flashing animated banners that appear on facebook are proven to attract a 25% increase in the number of response rates, according to Steve Hall, a social media enthusiast.    

         

Social Media Research Results

Social media is no longer being seen as merely a way for individuals to stay connected for social purposes, now it is also being utilized as a way for journalists to gather information when researching their stories. A survey conducted nationwide by Cision and George Washington University’s Don Bates, discovered that the bulk of journalists rely on social media outlets for information during their research process. Eight-nine percent of journalists surveyed use blogs for story research, sixty-five percent use social media sites such as MySpace and Facebook and more than half of journalists use microblogging services like Twitter. For example, if you watch a newscast of ‘E! News’, for at least every second story, the show’s presenters will say “…as confirmed by twitter” or “and the star tweeted....” A recent story broken via Twitter was the news that Kat Von D and Sandra Bullock’s ex-husband, Jesse James, are now dating. Kat tweeted “Yes, Jesse and I are dating” which was then re-tweeted by more than a hundred people and broadcasted in every major gossip column, celebrity magazine and celebrity entertainment news show. To check out the full news report, go to People.

The biggest problem with using social media publications as new sources is that their reliability is a big issue. Of all the journalists surveyed, eight-four percent recognized that social media information sources were either “slightly less” or “much less” reliable than traditional media sources. The real issue comes in when journalists use social media sources as their sole sources and they do not run a fact check on the information - journalists have become sloppy about information verification. Mike Wise, a well-known Washington Post writer did an experiment to illustrate this point which ended up getting him suspended for a month! He planted a false twitter post that stated that “Roethlisberger will get five games, I'm told.” This tweet was in reference to the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger who faced a six-game suspension for a conduct violation. Wise’s post insinuated that the player’s suspension might be reduced. Wise was trying to prove how easily false information can be published online and then re-published as news without being fact checked.  In response to all the backlash Wise received, he exclaimed: “I was right about nobody checking facts or sourcing.”

The bottom line learnt here is that social media outlets can be used to find out information quickly and easily, however, the information must be verified by a credible source before it should be published as news or presented as the truth. Also, never risk your career to prove a general point to the world!

Always be open, honest and direct! - Social Media Ethics

Social media has exploded in recent years, fulfilling needs that previously went unrecognized. Social media consists of online platforms that are built on web 2.0 technologies which allow content to be published easily and quickly. The content is user-generated and highly accessible with the goal to connect with other people online, creating an online community. For example, Twitter is currently a very popular social media micro-blogging platform where users create their own personalized profiles and where all the content is user generated. A tweeter’s profile can display their posted name, their location, a short bio and their continuous stream of conversational tweets.  

The dictionary describes 'ethics' as: the rules of conduct recognized in respect to a particular class of human actions or a particular group, culture with respect to the rightness and wrongness of certain actions and to the goodness and badness of the motives and ends of such actions. With regards to social media, anything goes! Arguably the greatest feature of social media is that it is an unrestricted platform for people to express themselves, you can set your own limitations and can decide for yourself what you consider 'right' or 'wrong.' This gives us a self-governing freedom that redefines the notion of ethics all together - we are creating the culture that once shaped us!  I can guarantee you will find people who will share your views and people that will disagree with your views, no matter what views you choose to broadcast on the internet – this challenges the conventional meanings of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’.

One’s moral principles become evident through one’s blogs and tweets, for example Miley Cyrus, a Disney darling, made her views supporting gay marriage public through her twitter posts saying: “God’s greatest commandment is to love. And judging is not loving. Everyone deserves to love and be loved and most importantly smile” in response to a question about gay marriage. This leaves social media participants vulnerable to criticism of their ethics just like how people are vulnerable to criticism when expressing their values, beliefs and morals in person. This was evident with Miley Cyrus as she received very harsh criticism for her tweets supporting free love. However, the possibility of ensuing criticism after publishing should not deter social media enthusiasts from expressing their views – it is important to put down one’s own ethics in writing as it forces you to clarify them to yourself and gives your ethics solidarity – one of my favorite quotes of all time is, “if you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything,” having ethics is respectable.

The first day of my public relations 101 class, my professor taught us a mantra to use not only in our professional lives but also in our private lives; the mantra was “always be open, honest and direct.” This has stuck with me ever since. I strongly feel that if we live our lives in an honest and open way, it gives us a strong platform that not only gives our opinions worth and credibility, but also allows us to influence other members of the online social network community as people generally tend to respect and listen to those who seem to have solid, well thought out opinions of right and wrong.

Public relations professionals aim to help their clients make strategic decisions which are thought to be ‘good’ ethically and that will therefore help them look favorable in the public eye. If the public perceives a company to have an air of dishonesty, then the reputation of that company will go down. A prominent professional ethics controversy is the issue of whether or not ghost-blogging is seen as dishonest. On one hand, ghost-bloggers argue that they are trying to make an honest living by utilizing their writing talents to help companies promote their messages as business executives do not have the time to blog. On the other hand, people argue that writing under the name of someone else, such as using a business owner’s name, is misleading. This deception could jeopardize the company’s relationships with their customers and the general public. It is a slippery slope to go down.        

Blog Focus: Social Media

The focus of this blog will be about social media and its public relations implications.