During my time at Tennessee, I have had the opportunity to guest lecture and speak in various classes on what social media is, and how public relations practitioners are using it. From the introduction class in communications to our undergraduate PR professional development seminar – everyone wants to know more about what social media is all about.
In my presentation, one way that I have been able to show the students how social media works is by presenting the Conversation Prism that was designed and created by Brian Solis and Jesse Thomas. The purpose of the Conversation Prism is to observe and analyze the way that conversations are created and disseminated through various social media platforms.
Another great resource when it comes to social media and public relations is Deirdre Breakenridge (co-author along with Brian Solis of the hit book “Putting the public back in Public Relations” – a must have book!). Deirdre Breakenridge is the Director of Communications at PFS Marketwyse and also an adjunct faculty member at Farleigh Dickinson University. Ms. Breakenridge wrote an excellent post on the role of engagement when it comes to conversation through social media – what I liked about this was it was very concise on how public relations professionals can use specific social media platforms in conversations and engaging key stakeholders. Here is one of the grid images that she presented on her web site that I found to be very resourceful and clear about social media and engagement:
The Engagement Grid (created by Deirdre Breakenridge, PFS Marketwyse)
Both Brian Solis and Deirdre Breakenridge are leaders in social media and public relations, and are a great resource for scholars and students that want to learn more about the ever changing technology. At the end of each of my guest lectures, I provide students with links of key sources in social media that they should follow for the most up-to-date information and experts in the field – and these are two professionals that I have told the students that they need to follow.
Social media is definitely been interesting in studying and conducting research in – it’s continuing to transform and dramatically impact how we communicate and manage our online reputations – and there are those innovative PR professionals like Solis and Breakenridge that are leading the way for the Public Relations field. I am very thankful for these two individuals for their work to provide their knowledge and share their experiences with the PR community – both to current and future practitioners (ex. students) and academic professionals / researchers that want to make sure that their students have the right skills and tools in social media. Thank you very much!
While there have been numerous of insightful e-books and white papers discussing social media, the academic community is struggling to produce current studies and literature to keep up with the technology. So in a sense, there is an apparent gap in what is being studied in the academic community in public relations, and how the public relations professionals are using social media in their campaigns and daily practices. Time will tell to see how this all plays out – but I feel that everything will work out in the end. 🙂
Hope you all are having a great day. 🙂
Best Wishes,
Karen
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