PR Class So Far

I began this course a little jaded. I was weary of social media and its extreme and unnecessary overuse by the general public. Coming into it, I felt that 90% of social media opened the doors to the mundanities of all our lives; I don’t need to know that Steve from high school is eating a bowl of Mini-Wheats then going gym. Of course, in true hypocritical form, I still took part in it, but made sure that I never turned into the people that made me think negatively of its purpose. I still generally believe some of the things mentioned; I still do believe that a large portion of social media is incredibly unproductive, annoying, useless and narcissistic, but that small percentage of the good stuff, made by the right people, makes it all worth it.

So, have my feelings changed since I began this course? Absolutely, I have been introduced to a great amount of sources in the past months that have made me appreciate good use of social media; and there is definitely a lot out there. Perhaps the most beneficial thing I’ve learned with this changed mentality is how customizable social media is. I’m not talking fonts and unique wall papers, I talking about information. Before the internet, and especially before the social media explosion, there weren’t many options to choose from when you wanted to find something out. Often, you have to dig through heaps of unwanted information before you can get to what you want. But now, I can pick exactly what I want to hear about – whether it’s useful or not – and even better I can pick the person, group, business or organization that I want to hear it from. It’s a great time to customize your intellect. There is no longer an excuse to be interested or curious about something and not find out about it. You’re favourite band has a new album coming out and you want to know what to expect? Check a music blog. It’s trading day and you want see if your team made any deals? Follow their tweets. Your classroom just shook and you want to know if that was actually an earthquake? You have social media for that too.

I feel very fortunate to know now what I didn’t before. Social media is not just a flash in the pan, this stuff is staying around until the next crazy social experiment breaks through to the world, who knows when that will be. The power to create, change, build and disrupt public opinion is all possible through social media. If I never work a day of PR in my life, I will still know that using these tools will be handy in so many other ways. That said I’d still be pretty upset if I went through all of this to end up with no job.