YouTube

A PR professional has to be very careful of monitoring YouTube. There are now jobs in the communication field that rely solely on managing the PR of an organization on the World Wide Web. My friend who worked for the City of Branson said that his main duty was to search the internet, every day, and make sure that the messages being sent out by other internet users was accurate and the way that Branson wanted to be portrayed in online media. For example, if a blogger posted a blog that said he/she just came back from Branson, and his testimonial was that it was a town full of ‘Jesus-freaks ‘and ‘old people’, then my friend’s duty was to reply to that blogger by stating all of the attractions that the blogger must have missed that would have given him a different perspective of Branson. That way, any reader of the blog could see that there are other opinions, and if persuaded, the blogger him/herself could negate his previous statement. YouTube poses that same need for high monitoring. YouTube users have ‘vlogs’ that they can easily say anything in, and it’s our duty as PR professionals to make sure to provide feedback and comments to regulate the messages.

I think that YouTube, if used the right way, can really help an organization. As we saw in the Dr. Wesch video, YouTube users were very angry when someone was disingenuous on YouTube. There was the example of the ‘Emo’ boy from some Mid-Western state who was actually a British boy posing. People got mad, and we saw that they were mad by the responses they posted in both writing and in video. I think that it may be a good idea to find a blog user, someone real and genuine who is willing to truthfully talk about your product/service and have them post in their vlogs a testimonial about what they think of your product/service.

Global Warming is just "God hugging us closer"

Sarah Palin may very well be the next President of the United States. My neighbor told me last night that if that happened, he may very well leave the country. Palin seemed like a very interesting choice made by presidential candidate John McCain. I think that the SNL skit aired last week is a great way of summing up the feelings that I and many others are having about Mrs. Palin entering the horse-race we call Presidential Elections.

Watch:

http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/palin-hillary-open/656281/

I was never much of a Hillary Clinton supporter. I did wonder what it would have been like to have Bill back in the White House as the ‘First Gentleman’ or whatever he would have been called. The thought entertained me enough to never really turn negative towards Clinton, but still I didn’t see a big reason to support her (or any mainstream candidate for that matter). The SNL skit does make me sympathize for Hillary, though. I don’t know if this is a gender-issue or not, but think about it: A strong, motivated woman, who fought and worked her way almost to break through the glass ceiling of the highest office in the land, only to fall short and now Mrs. Palin, a new comer to the political spectrum, is even closer to the Oval office than Hillary ever was. It’s like a Greek tragedy. Homer could not have done any better (ok, maybe he could). Palin reminds me of these girls I went to high school with. They were of a certain faith, one that normally gets represented outwardly by style of clothes, hair and attitude. These girls were more vindictive and snobbish than the cutest, most in-style, classic preppy-cheerleader ever was. They wore their faith proudly by the judgments they made on others. Their opinions kept any sense of diversity away from their rose-colored world. It always baffled me that girls who talk, sang, and preached so much about the love of their faith could bash so many who were different than them. It really made me mistrust them. Palin reminds me of those girls.

Hancock: The Best Portrayal of PR Ever!

I saw the movie 'Hancock' this weekend with some other Grad students. We all thought that the screenwriters must have been in some COM classes at some point in their lives because there was references to 'conflict management skills' and alot of PR references. We were interested in the Jason Bateman charecter because he was a PR specialist and he was one of the most positive PR portrayals I have ever seen in the media. His primary motive in the movie was to help save the world and he tried to approach this by talking to major corporations and trying to persuade them to donate some of their biggest selling products to people in need. For instance, at the beginning of the movie, he pitched his 'All-Heart' brand to a Pharmecutical Company and asked them to donate their latest medication to treat Tuberculosis (which was a very expensive, exclusive drug) in people who could not afford it and were in desperate need of the treatment. Needless to say, the corporate executives laughed in his face. And the dynamic he brings to the story of Hancock is a positive role, too. Has anyone else seen this movie??