See & Be PR

‘Friend’ or Foe: The Dangers of Social Media

Sep 252011

It’s 1984, your life is under a microscope, everything you say or do is controlled and you’re deathly terrified of committing a thought crime. While George Orwell may have taken it to the extreme, (Did he? Do you know you’re being watched?), I couldn’t help remembering this book while reading a recent post by my peer about location-based social networking. Granted, working in PR, I should be more open to ‘social technology’, which I am; I’m still admittedly ‘wierded-out’ by it all. It dredges up thoughts of psycho stalkers knowing my every move, and if not them, then random organisations using my locations and where I like to go to target me (and isn’t that why we feel bad for the fish in the fishbowl?). I mean, if you want to know where I am…call me.

While I love social media – and what that has meant for finding that classmate from 6th grade who recently had a baby, I still exercise it all with a bit of caution. That’s why I’m still adverse to adding colleagues to my Facebook page (and rudely so, because people surprisingly get offended if you don’t want to be their ‘friend’ online, even though I am your friend in life). Sure, I don’t mind colleagues on LinkedIn and Twitter (which I keep as my more professional channels), but I still need one place that’s just me, where I can post goofy pictures of my son in a private folder for only my mom and sisters to see, and where I can joke about ‘how I shouldn’t be spending so much time on Facebook while I’m at work.’ Maybe this can help you figure out what channel to use for what. While that’s moving into a different topic, my point is the implications in our daily life: how much do we really want to share and what does this social revolution really mean when it comes to me and my personal space? Continue reading »

How It’s a Small World After All Thanks to Mass Media

Media, Public Relations 1 Response »

Sep 182011

If someone says Disneyworld, what song comes to mind? How about ‘It’s a Small World’? Quite fitting in today’s day and age, where we’ve turned into more of a global village, than separate continents and countries. Most all of them have a McDonald’s, Pepsi, or kids running around in Superman T-shirts chomping on a Snickers bar. You’d have to be an alien not to have heard of these brands, and that’s thanks to the rapid sending, sharing and receiving of information – all over the world – made possible by advances that have come all the way from the first telegraph to anything you want to do on your very own smartphone.

Frolicking in the spirit of international unity

What was the main aim for the song behind one of the most famous rides in the history of Disney? Well, it was too loud and noisy to have all of the different country’s anthems playing at once so they needed a simple song that could be easily translated into different languages. Sounds a little bit like social media; Twitter and Facebook combine a unified platform that can be used in many different languages. That way people all over the world can use these social channels without having to re-create one of their very own. This is great since now we can reach people all over the globe – from China to Brazil, using one single stage. Continue reading »

How to win that Second Date with your client

How to, Public Relations No Responses »

Sep 112011

A client meeting doesn’t start the minute you walk in the door. It’s starts way before, before you even say hello. It starts with a little bit of preparation, and then some more, because the perfect client meeting is a winning science fair project that took hours of toil and research (and in my case lots of glitter and glue).

Did I get you shaking? Don’t fret, it’s not rocket science, this is something that you can conquer with the right tips and tools, and that’s what I’m about to do.

Homework is not just for school

Sorry to have to say this, but you will never grow out of having to prepare. Whether you’re a housewife planning her weekly meal menu or an engineer taking dimensions and client preferences, you will always have to plan before you execute. In PR – that means knowing what you will talk about and recognising the need to meet in the first place. If it’s the first time you ever meet, well, that means even more homework – because you need to know as much as you possibly can about their business and goals before you step into that room. Check any collateral that you can get your hands on including their website and any information available online. Continue reading »

FAKEbook: Is anything real anymore?

Social Media 2 Responses »

Sep 052011

Nothing excites me more than that little red box on the top left-hand corner. That’s what keeps me coming back – over and over and over – again throughout the day, looking for more numbers, because without them, I just don’t know what I would do. That’s why I’ll post adorable pictures of my son on Facebook just before the weekend and wait till Sunday to check how high I’ve scored (thank God he’s cute and can get me into the double digits). And that’s why I’ll keep the fact that I recently bought a new car hush hush until I can post it as my status – even though I was just with a friend – hoping that she will congratulate me, but (oh, please God) do it on my wall.

But that’s where I have to take a step back to think, ‘what is it that makes me so obsessed?’ Why do I need people’s comments and Likes to feel like I’m worth anything? Are all those birthday wishes even real? While this is starting to look like a Psych major’s view of social media (which I am), I guess that’s what this is. Continue reading »