A Look at Other Classmates Blogs

This week I am going to take a break from my usual focus on NBC News Publicity and take a look at some of my other classmate’s blogs. After our recent class lecture on how important social media and technology is becoming in the field of Public Relations, I decided that I wanted to evaluate some of my peers who have blogged on the importance of social media. Now although I’m sure many of my peers enrolled in PRR 332 have awesome blogs, I do not have time to read all of them and therefore will be evaluating two that I feel did a great job in discussing social media.

The first blog post I looked at was written by Sam Roman, who has decided to focus her blog on fashion PR tactics. I have always been interested in fashion, but I mean what girl isn’t? Therefore, I was very excited when I discovered this post was not only about fashion PR, but social media as well. It basically discussed how the clothing retailer Anne Taylor LOFT launched an ad campaign on silk cargo pants; however the ad only featured models that are a size two which made many consumers bitter. In response to the negative feedback consumers were posting on Facebook about the ad, Anne Taylor LOFT quickly posted pictures of their very own office workers in the cargo pants in order to show consumers that women of any size could wear them and look great. I thought this was such an amazing usage of social media because the whole consumer/store feedback was done through technology. Basically, Anne Taylor LOFT was able to discover there was a problem and fix it in under twenty four hours, which would have NEVER been possible ten years ago.

The next classmate I evaluated was Amy Hardman and her blog on social media. The title of the post that really caught my eye was,“Always be open, honest and direct! - Social Media Ethics.” Here Amy discusses that because social media is so new, there is not really one specific person or company that is laying down the lines of what is right and what is wrong. Although there are many companies, like the previously explained Anne Taylor LOFT, who has used social media in a positive light there are also many who do not. Yet the title of Amy’s blog says it all, just be open, honest and direct! As you can previously see in Sam’s blog post, that is exactly what Ann Taylor LOFT did. They saw a problem and they were then honest and direct in providing an answer for consumers. There was no need for them to try to tie in deception, because if they did I highly doubt they would have gotten such positive publicity!

With social media being so new to our society, it is important to start taking advantage of the amazing and FREE opportunities it has to offer. Although when dealing with anything new problems often arose, it is the way a company handles these problems that matters. Therefore, having honest, open and clear communication via social media is avoiding the shady line ethics creates, which no company wants to cross. We must keep in mind that as fast as good news travel through social media so does bad news. This is why establishing a bad reputation through social media is not using these new technologies to an advantage. Well I hope you enjoyed my peer’s blog posts on social media and have learned a thing or two. I will be back next week with a bright, new fresh post.

Let The Research Begin!

It’s no surprise that research in an important part of public relations or else I would probably not be sitting here doing this assignment for my PRR 332 research class. Therefore, this week I will focus in on an important event that has required NBC to put their research skills to the test. I’ll give you a hint: Can you think of a specific period where every human in the world, regardless of country, is actually coming together to engage in the same activity? I know these days that question seems like something only someone in the Peace Corps would try to answer; however, this is not as hard as you think. Still can’t think of it? Allow me to tell you: The Olympics!

NBC has had the honor of sponsoring the Olympics on their channel, which certainly falls under this blogs focus of NBC News Publicity because we all know during this time every media station is covering this event. Even if you’re not into sports, the Olympics are an exciting time which allows for a feeling of unit that is hard to come by these days. Although the Olympics only come every two years, research for the event never stops.

Let’s start back in 2008 when the Olympics were taking place in Beijing. This article did a great job of breaking down different research methods that were used by NBC. During this time NBC decided to really focus in on the internet and how to use it to their advantage. According to the article, “The network is referring to the Olympics as a "billion-dollar research lab" and hopes that the data it compiles will help give it—and advertisers—a better idea of how we consume its content.” To help answer their question, NBC decided to post live video streams, blogs and games on their website NBCOlympics.com. In addition, NBC teamed up with Quantcast to help determine what kind of audience was viewing the site. Integrated Media Measurement Inc. also partnered with NBC to track how many people were tuned in via their “on the go” technologies. I’m sure everyone watching can agree that this was a great idea. I highly doubt the individuals participating in the first Olympics in Greece ever thought that the games could be seen through a television, yet alone the internet (not like they actually knew what that was).

However, what good is research if you can’t use it to help your corporation? (Besides a waste of time, money, and anxiety) After taking a look at an article that went on to describe the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, NBC predicted around 200 million viewers to tune into the winter events. The article states, “Mr. Wurtzel outlined new research methods to better understand how much Olympics people catch online or on smartphones, and why: is it to re-watch their favorite snowboarder taking a nasty tumble, or is it to skip TV entirely?” This shows that the research conducted back in 2008 opened the door to more questions about modern day technologies and how it can help monitor viewers.

Both these articles and NBC’s efforts are a great example of what we discussed the first week in class. Times are changing and if corporations are not going to adapt and change their research methods to fit modern technology they WILL fall far, far behind. In my opinion, if you’re not going to adjust you might as well find a time machine and zoom back to 8th century BC when the Olympic began, maybe then old and outdated research methods may actually seem up to date and accurate. I hope you all enjoyed this week’s post and will be just as excited as me to see what NBC will bring to the table for the 2012 Olympic Games in London!

Ethics, The Shade of Gray: How much is too much?

Although I normally enjoy fun and uplifting topics, this week I am going to focus in on the questionable and potentially dark side of public relations: ethics. Now I’m sure somewhere out there is a place where everyone has the same definition of ethics and follows those guidelines perfectly without questioning what it means to cross the line (haha yeah right, get real). If anyone out there can actually prove my last sentence to be true I will pay you a billion dollars and do your homework for the rest of the semester. Let’s face it; ethics is a sticky subject, especially in the media publicity world where millions of viewers are watching your every move.

Like I mentioned last week, the focus of my blog is the NBC News Publicity Department. Now within this department lies “NBC Dateline,” which consists of the popular series “To Catch a Predator.” The series involves trapping men who are believed to be trying to have sexual encounters over the internet with minors. I’m sure I speak for many when I say that each episode made me cringe at the fact that there are actually people out there who would attempt to perform these disturbing acts. Although this series had good intentions, one episode started a huge controversy that would end in court. In 2008, the case Conradt v. NBC Universal began when Patricia Conradt sued the show for $100 million alleging that “NBC Dateline” was responsible for her brother, Louis Conradt, suicide back in 2006. Louis, who was being featured on the show as a predator for soliciting sex from a minor on the Internet, took his own life after being unable to face the humiliation and public spectacle of the episode airing.

As a result of this case the main ethical question presented seemed to be: when do journalist and the media cross the line? There is no doubt that the show had good intentions, however people do have the right to privacy and evasion of this privacy can potentially lead to a danger zone. However, when a corporation finds itself in the midst of an ethical dilemma the way they handle it can say a lot. In this case, rather than going to trial NBC settled for an undisclosed sum. Personally, I believe this was a smart public relations move. Rather than letting this case progress and potentially catch the mainstream media’s eye, NBC took credit for their actions and rewarded the family. In addition, NBC has taught us all an important lesson: journalist and the media NEED to take caution when distinguishing the line between making news and reporting news.

I personally feel that ethics is something learned over time and there are going to be moments where ones ethics are going to be questioned. However, it’s what you do once you believe that line was crossed that matters (as well as not making the same mistake twice). Like I mentioned before there is no such thing as an ideal ethical world, but PR practitioners should try their best to stay away from that line. What do you all think? Was “NBC Dateline” at fault for this incident? Did they cross the line? The thing is no two answers will be the same, which is why ethics has always been considered a “shade of gray.”

The Real "30 Rock"

When my professor first told us we would have to create a blog for class, I won’t lie that I spent countless hours staring at my computer thinking of what I could actually write about to keep my attention span for the entire semester (just kidding, sort of). After realizing that the whole time I was attempting to write I was distracting myself by reading every article on The Huffington Post, it hit me that I should write something related to my guilty pleasures; media, politics and the news. Therefore, I decided to focus in on one of the best in the industry, The NBC News Publicity Department, which has been going strong since David Sarnoff founded the National Broadcast Company back in 1926.

This past summer, instead of lying by the pool, drinking lemonade and sunning myself, I spent the long summer days in the dark and dreary offices on the tenth floor, east wing of NBC News studios- just kidding, it was wonderful! I was able to see firsthand the powerful influence that the media has on society as well as how important, hectic (hectic doesn’t even begin to describe it!) and exciting the world of public relations at a major media corporation is. Not to mention I got to attend TODAY show concerts, meet talents from NBC and help with special events. There is no doubt that I was taught a lot this past summer, however, three months anywhere is nearly an introduction. Although I don’t know what my future holds, I hope to one day submerge myself into the field of media publicly which is why I would love to spend the semester digging deeper into what the real “30 Rock” (and by this I don’t mean the show) is all about.

Even during the first assignment in class, I saw myself quickly drawing links between the topics disgusted and NBC News PR. One of the major topics our first assignment brushed upon was the expansion of social media in society today and how many PR practitioners are finding it difficult to research as well as keep up with. During the readings I immediately thought of NBC News PR, because they really have hopped on the social media bandwagon, but I mean who hasn’t right? However, NBC has been one of the first in industry to create a director of social media within the department in order to design unique ways to use tools like twitter, facebook and YouTube (hard life). But really, this job position is crucial considering we are in the midst of a social media phenomenon and I must admit I totally didn’t mind offering a helping hand to the director considering my generation is the prodigy of this phenomenon. The following link can be used to read an interview with the director, Ryan Osborn, on how social media plays a huge role at NBC News.
http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2010/06/nbcs-ryan-osborn-wants-to-use-social-media-for-storytelling155.html

There is no question that whether you are into the news and media or not that a corporation like NBC has certainly left a mark in not just the media publicly field but society in general. Hopefully I have got your minds thinking about the real "30 Rock" and we shall meet again next week!