Social media and the public relations professional

It would seem that as a public relations major I cannot last an entire day without hearing about how social media has changed the way people communicate with each other. Businesses, celebrities and even political candidates have jumped onto the bandwagon, which forces their competitors to follow suit. This cycle does nothing but reinforce social media's impact on our culture. Another hot topic that is discussed in most public relations classes is how to turn classroom knowledge into a job, especially in an economic crisis where technology changes so rapidly most communications textbooks are outdated the instant they hit the shelf. Because of these two observations, I have found that public relations majors do a disservice to themselves by ignoring the impact social media has on learning and job prospects.

Jason Falls, a writer for the blog Social Media Explorer, covered a study that was conducted by TrendStream, Korn/Ferry International and PRSA, which concluded that public relations and marketing professionals should understand the relevance of social media if they wish to find a job in the industry. If anyone is still wondering if they should be paying attention to social media and its effects on public relations, this study answers that question.

Falls also touched on how social media affects public relations educators. Falls wrote,"...but more importantly, public relations educators, need to quickly recognize that what we’re teaching those new to the profession had better not be what we were taught." This emphasizes the fact that our professors are learning this stuff with us, however their experience helps them put these changes in context for us as students.

While knowledge of social media is necessary for us as students, it does not mean that we cannot ignore the basic principles of writing news releases or knowledge learned from our trusty AP Stylebook, which will come in handy while we evolve with social media.