Whitney’s Blog

I have reached the final week of classes. It is a surreal experience, it being my final two classes here at Auburn. I have learned many things that will hopefully make me a great employee as I take on the work force.

Style & Design, in particular, has helped me so much. I have learned so many different things about social media and how to put myself out there for people to hear me, this blog being one of them.

As for creating a website, I thought that this was the best project I have ever done at Auburn. It will be beneficial for me when I start looking for jobs. It is a unique and creative way of showcasing who I am and my resume to potential employers.

 I am excited to take the skills I have learned throughout this summer semester and use them in my internship this fall, as well as in future jobs. Although I hated the tedious work, this is going to put me above the rest when it comes to applying and interviewing.

Public relations was definitely the right choice for me. Not only has it help me figure out the exact career I want, it has given me a whole bunch of other skills that I won’t necessary be using in my career, but helping me as an individual in this crazy world.

In my Style & Design class, we have to create a personal website that demonstrates our skills in different types of Adobe programs. In the website, we are suppose to upload our resume in different formats, and showcase a portfolio of work we have completed in various other public relations classes.This has probably been the most difficult thing I have ever done throughout my time at Auburn University. Though the work is not that difficult, having the patience to complete each speck of the website can get pretty hard. I never realized how much goes into building your own website. Even though I feel like I could rip my hair out when attempting to complete my website, in the long run, it will be very beneficial to a job.Our society has become more and more dependent on  technology. One particular piece of our technological world belongs to social media. It seems like anything and everything has some sort of link to social media. Eventually, this particular media will be how our world reaches one another.  This will put me one step ahead of the gang. These skills I have developed this past semester are not your typical skills. I will be able to offer new ways of publicizing companies and clients, and maybe even helping them to develop their own social media network or website. I can’t wait to put my new skills to the test in a real job setting. I just need to my own site first before I can worry about others. 

In my campaign’s class, we are creating a social network for my department to keep in touch with its alumni. Among all other things, its main purpose is to keep contacts for the benefit of other students and the department itself.  Social Networks seem to be all the craze these days. We have Facebook, MySpace, etc. People seems to eat, breathe and sleep their choice of social network(s). My sister is a good example of this. I always catch her playing on her Facebook page for hours, then move over to her MySpace (though not as long as Facebook). I can’t lie, I have a Facebook, and I check it everyday.  The problem that my campaign’s group and I is generating the same popularity for our social network like Facebook or MySpace. Our social network is more exclusive than those networks, and I know that it will never reach that same popularity, but how do you generate popularity for a new social network?  I know that if I was not a part of this campaign group, my interest in a social network for my college’s department would not be that high. I might join it and look around a few times a year, but that’s it. I am guilty of not doing what I am trying to accomplish in my group.  So if anyone out there has any ideas on how to generate that interests, even for myself, it would be much appreciated. After all, you should always practice what you preach, right? 

One the most stressful experiences I have just experienced is the interview. It is the one form of conversation that determines what the next step in life will be.  Being a public relations major at Auburn University, I have been handed a range of different opportunities that come with my degree. What I mean by that is that with all the coursework I’ve taken, I have learned lots of things that won’t limit myself to strictly public relations.  Don’t get me wrong – I wouldn’t have picked PR if I didn’t like it. I’m just the type of person who can’t stick to one thing forever.   So I had an interview last Wednesday with a company that specializes in event planning/management and catering. We began talking about the internship, my time at Auburn and other things. She mentioned one thing that made me feel really good. Although they were an event planning company that has done events for top names in the Atlanta area, their only source of advertising and media were through word-of-mouth. As I’ve learned, word-of-mouth is one of the most powerful tools of advertising, it’s generating it that proves to be a difficult task. I began to tell my interviewer about all the things I have done this past year, from press releases to press kits. It was really exciting to showcase these skills I have picked up and offer a way of contacting media in the Atlanta area to help out my new company (Yes – I did get the internship!!). To be able to be at this point and know what I’m talking about is amazing. I’m actually becoming someone I dreamed about years ago. So I would like to thank all my professors who have gotten me to this point. I cannot wait to put my skills to the real test.  

Today, the media and companies are hoping on the go green train, trying to show their efforts in this ever-growing go green trend. I recently wrote a story about this and had a few thoughts on it.

The go green trend in society has burst on the scene after top politicians have made it known that our environment is suffering because of what we have done to it. Al Gore is a great example of this. His global warming movie scared the living s**t out of many Americans. His facts are true. What we crave and want in life has a counter effect of hurting our environment. We needed to change our habits so later generations don’t suffer for our greed.

Well the media has taken over this green effort and turned it into a profit-making ploy. Advertisers emphasize the “green” that goes into products that consumers should use so that they to are making a conscious effort. However, are these efforts even true?One well-known product, Windex, is use in many households today. My house has at least two bottles of it the last time I checked. SC Johnson, maker of Windex, has created a “Greenlist” trademark. Greenlist is a process of measuring how much raw materials are in their products. Their commercials now focus on this little trademark sticker on their products, making sure that consumers know that these are environment-friendly products. How friendly are they? Not that friendly. Windex, for example, is made up of 95 percent water, 4 percent alcohol and 1 percent high toxic substance known as ethylene glycol. Does that sound like a product that friendly?

The media is making this big deal about earth-friendly products and causing consumers to flip out over using these products that are not all the earth-friendly at all. Going green doesn’t mean purchasing these products, it means changing a little bit of our daily lives to make an impact on the world later. This means recycling, turning off unnecessary items to save energy and so on.

Don’t listen to all the hype on T.V. Just make an effort that’s free and is actually beneficial to the environment.

While playing around and reading blog posts by my professor on Auburnmedia.com, I stumbled upon an article about Tim Russert. My professor proclaimed what an amazing person and journalists he was. However, the part that caught my eye was his thoughts about PR students, and students in general.

He began by saying he fears for us students, that we are not news junkies like people his age are (that age is classified information, but I’m going to say it’s between 45 and 55). We missed out on lessons Russert taught every Sunday.

No doubt about it, Russert’s death was a tragic one. Even my stepdad was shocked and saddened by the tragedy. It is always sad to hear about someone losing a husband, a father, a good man. He was praised for his hard hitting news and reports on politics; however, I never knew Tim Russert, the journalist.

This is where my professor’s blog statement hit me in the head. He fears students, especially PR students, not being these so-called “news junkies.” Well, I can’t disagree with him. I can’t lie and say I’m a news junkie when the only daily news I watch is E! News every night at 6:00 p.m. However, I don’t not watch the news. I understand that being informed on current affairs is something any PR practitioner should recognize. I have my NY Times news widget on my dashboard. I read over stories on MSN.com.

The news is important. Being informed on the day’s current affairs should be a part of any person’s daily routine. So don’t fear, Robert. I might be far from a news junkie, but I’m not some lazy PR student indulging in fashion magazines.

It has only been three weeks and six days of classes. My mind is already spinning from this technology overload in my current public relation’s course – Style & Design. I understand that times are changing. Our lives revolve around technology. However, it is a little overwhelming to live life through a computer.

Generation Y has grown up in the time of technology. I know because I am one of them. I can’t even remember the first time I used a computer because it seems like I always was playing on one as a child. Disc players, iPods, portable DVD players, laptops. These are the items that kept me entertained growing up until now. So why is it that I am having such a difficult time with a class that revolves around technology?

Microsoft Word, Power Point, Excel. I have become some what of a pro when it comes to creating spread sheets, presentation and papers. This is where I thought all my work was going to be presented in. I was obviously wrong.

Joining social networks, creating video interview and blogging have now come into play in my public relations classes. I never really understood how much PR is linked with technology. Being a part of these social networks – PR Open Mic, PR Blogs and The Loveliest Village – have really opened my eyes into the actual world of PR.

Soon enough, the new whirlwind of technology will fade and become second nature to me. I pray that time quickly approaches.

Recently, I read a blog post about AP Style and whether it is relevant to the world of PR. I don’t know where this person went to school or who he is working with, but a comment like that absolutely rubs me the wrong way.

Ever since I proclaimed myself a public relations major at Auburn University, my whole academic life has been centered around Associated Press. “Five points off for any AP errors,” or “one AP error and that’s an automatic letter grade,” my professors would say. This would soon become a second language to me the more I worked with it. My professors were right.

Even before all the quizzes and projects, all potential PR majors were forced into a course that revolved around AP Style. This, they said, was to determine who had the drive, the capability to be a public relations major. Again, my professors were right. Little by little, those who weren’t cut out for the job quickly selected a new path.

After all the hard work and time dedicated to AP Style, I’m sure my professors knew what they were talking about. Why put us through it all if it didn’t count for something later.

Sure, technology has created different means of getting information out; however, it is not always dependable. It is the basics that bind us together and makes us great at what we do.

So to answer that guy’s blog post about is AP Style relevant – always and forever.