Lara’s side of the story…

A member of both Facebook and LinkedIn, I believe the possibility of an emerging business networking capability for Facebook does pose a threat to LinkedIn’s growing popularity. But my question is how much of a threat? After reading this article detailing the potential addition of this new capability, I asked myself the same question Barry Parr, Jupiter media analyst, addressed in the article: how many networks do you really want to belong to?

Personally, I am a member of multiple social networks with the number climbing each day. Although joining most of these networks has been out of curiosity as I’ve found most of the pioneers in the social media realm involved in several, my all-time favorite is Facebook. Second only to blogging, it was an early endeavor that I hold dear to my heart. I spend entirely too much time immersed in the climbing number of applications, and at times neglect my other networks, but that doesn’t mean I will delete my accounts. I am relatively new to LinkedIn and find it rewarding and appealing, especially as I am currently seeking my first real job. But, with a potential LinkedIn spin on Facebook, will I remain faithful to my LinkedIn membership? It’s actually harder to answer than I expected. Here’s my best shot:

Another reason, other than curiosity, I am a member of so many social networks is each channel’s diversity. I appreciate the different uses and benefits of each and every one. Plus, each channel attracts a different audience. I understand the appeal of simplifying multiple channels into one conglomerate, but if I decide to leave one, who is to say everyone I’m connected to through that specific channel will join me? This presents a problem because ultimately, it could cause a loss of a contact which is the purpose of social media in the first place, contact with others (hence the name: social network). Unless every person left all networks to join one specific, the threat of losing a contact is ever present. Being a member of multiple networks is rewarding, not disadvantageous. Each social channel offers access to diverse individuals eager to connect. So, as an aficionado of multiple accounts, I don’t see Facebook’s potential business networking acquisition as a serious threat. I do understand the concern from LinkedIn’s supporters, but I don’t think if Facebook makes this move it will eliminate LinkedIn. Yes, I think Facebook’s popularity will continue to surpass LinkedIn, but there can only be one Number 1.

We have to remember we are talking about technology; something that will never be tamed. Each day a new development is in the works that will potentially be bigger, better and faster that will pose a threat. It’s business and it’s risky.

Until next time

I’ve already expressed my distaste of the media’s obsession with Britney Spears’ life to a few people and ranted away in less than 140 characters in twitterland, so why not use one more social media outlet to fully describe the extent of my disgust. I understand the public has a direct influence on what are “hot topics” in today’s society, so we are somewhat to blame but I think it has reached an all time low when all the mainstream news’ channels are posted outside of the courtroom in Los Angeles awaiting her arrival.

I was chatting with a friend of mine, Katie Smith, (you can find her on twitter: katiesmith, she asked me to plug her in my blog) who expressed the same feelings toward the issue, and I made the comment, I don’t understand it, she has been in a downward spiral for quite some time and we all knew this was due to happen. She’s getting all this attention and she didn’t even kill someone. I know to say that is morally wrong and politically incorrect, but it made us laugh and is, in a sense, true. And is now a quote on my friend’s Facebook wall.

I’m really surprised this has become such a ‘hot button’ issue, but I guess it does have that emotional appeal we learned about in Newswriting. It is heartbreaking to watch her suffer live on TV, and I do have compassion but some of her actions have been self-deprecating and could have been avoided. I’m just looking forward to the day when the world has left her at peace, only for her to reemerge in the limelight as another child star on a reality show on VH1.

Although I have targeted much of my posts toward new media and how it will affect my future in PR, I just couldn’t get off my soapbox. I was recently reading a 2005 interview of a PR professional, and one of the pointers he gave to young, up-and-coming PR students was to become a sponge, absorbing as much news as possible. And when I reflect on this advice, I can’t help but think Britney Spears’ wardrobe nor failure to appear in court was what he had in mind.

But then again, all this attention has made “Britney Spears” a household name, and does have me blogging but not in a positive light, even devoted fans are having a hard time defending her now. Through all this, I find it difficult to defend the age-old tale that, “all publicity is good publicity.”

Until next time!

I confess, tonight I reverted back to my early college years and watched the pilot episode of the new up-and-coming teen obsession, Gossip Girl. The new series aired on The CW Network and is a product of the creators of The O.C. Money, rumors, jealousy and popularity, it’s The Eastside O.C. And I predict it will have much of the same effect on the targeted demographic as did The O.C.; Wednesday night get-togethers over dinner and wine, disappointment as the last five minutes approach leaving the viewers in anticipation for scenes from next week.

So, why have I decided to blog about the new show? Yes, I can justify it. I found Gossip Girl to be another example of how social media’s popularity and online presence is undeniable. The synopsis of the show explains:

“The privileged prep school teens on Manhattan’s Upper East Side first learn that Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively, “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants”) is back in town the way they learn all the important news in their lives — from the blog of the allknowing albeit ultra-secretive Gossip Girl.”

The entirety of the show is narrated by Gossip Girl’s blog and drives the turmoil following these teens. Each show will unfold as an entry in this blog, and I believe, as a direct result, ignite the popularity of blogs among young teens.

Although the show doesn’t show the benefits of a blog in the corporate world or its potential of developing mutually beneficial relationships among a corporation and its publics, I feel it does answer the question many people find themselves asking, whether or not the buzz about social media is valid. If you find yourself still questioning this medium’s future, simply turn on your TV. Social media has arrived and is here to stay.

Until next time…

It’s the infamous statement, “if you don’t use it, you lose it” that has inspired this post. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I graduated in public relations from Auburn University in December. Our public relations’ program has been intensely involved with social media since Robert French introduced it to his class some 2 years ago. I was in that class and spent the rest of my college career learning about new tools in communication that are becoming household names; blogs, podcats, wikis, etc.

After graduation I began working as a coordinator for the Auburn Fund. I worked as a student representative for two years while enrolled, acquiring donations from alumni for various campus projects, and believed having spent so much time developing my fundraising and communication skills, becoming a coordinator was inevitably my next step. I began in January, but in May felt something was missing in my life. The position for development coordinator became available and having little interest in applying, I had an epiphany. I wanted and needed something else.

During those months as a coordinator, I had put social media on the back-burner. (I attribute my enthusiasm and obsession with new media to Robert, so thank you Robert for many nights where I have spent entirely too much time reading blogs instead of sleeping….I’m certain I am going to suffer irreparable eye damage) Having realized this, I’ve asked myself the question…“is it true, if you don’t use it, you lose it”? I’m rooting for NO! Slipping under the radar for those few months just gave me more of an interest in the future of technology in world-wide communication and PR. I’m back in the swing of things and trying to take in as much as possible. I’m finally back to blogging (although I never quit reading), and more enthusiastic about social media than ever. I’m ready to apply all those years of listening to Robert talk about the latest and greatest thing to hit the new media block.

So, what now? After my epiphany, I spent some time on a plane and on the Internet. I researched cities and PR firms at the forefront of the new digital age. Through my research, I found Chicago. Focusing my search on Chicago, I’m currently seeking an entry-level position with an innovative firm that identifies the future of technology and communication and is working on forging that gap. I think my experience working with social media throughout college has made me a unique candidate, and am confident it will contribute to my success in the future. And on that note, I can’t help but be optimistic…Chicago, here I come!

After reading several articles debating the relevance of The Princeton Review’s advice to reconsider the curriculum in Public Relations’ programs nationwide, I felt it was time a recent student gave its perspective. And that is exactly what I intend to do. I graduated from Auburn University with a BA in Public Relations in December and having recently completed the curriculum, I want to give my take.

For those of you who have not read the article, let me explain. The Princeton Review recently advised students who are considering a career in Public Relations focus much of their studies in liberal arts as well as writing courses rather than actual PR courses. The article also states the PR industry needs well-rounded communicators and emphasizes the benefits of liberal arts courses to help develop these skills.

So, what do I think? I feel that the review is almost an insult to Public Relations’ programs. I do not understand how someone can believe that through PR courses students will not learn how to communicate effectively; it’s the focal point of the courses. Don’t get me wrong, I agree that it is important to have a solid background in a variety of courses such as liberal arts to become a well-rounded individual, but I think it’s ludicrous to suggest that PR courses cannot prepare a student for a career in the industry. Obviously the people at The Review have not sat in a classroom lately. I think the PR courses at Auburn have actively prepared me for a career in PR and have helped develop my communication skills. My Style & Design in Public Relations course at Auburn not only taught me how to work with creative software, but also involved me in the world of social media. I’m blogging for crying out loud, and PR courses aren’t supposed to prepare students to be well-rounded communicators???? Also, in this specific course we used Skype and spoke with PR professionals all over the world. And that’s just ONE course of many in the PR program here at Auburn.

I’m not saying that courses in the arts are not important to a student. I actually think it is important to take a variety of courses while in school. My advice to students: take advantage of all the knowledge available to you in college and soak it in but understand the importance and benefits of PR courses and TAKE THEM. My advice to the people at The Princeton Review: Enroll in a PR program, sit in the classroom, work on the projects and THEN release an article advising hopeful PR students. PR is a booming industry for a reason, apparently the PR programs have been doing something right.

Until next time…

I know what you’re thinking…. Wow, this girl really likes to talk about herself, but bare with me I’ve been out of the blogosphere so long I felt it was absolutely imperative to give some background on my whereabouts for the past year.

This post is a direct result of Robert French’s attempt to get me back in the swing of things. He was tagged. I was tagged. Its all irrelevant. So here we are again, 8 random facts about ME…

1. I’m a nerd, and my parents couldn’t be prouder. I may put on a good front with my vibrant personality, but deep down I like all things, well, nerdy. I spend entirely too much time on the Internet. I’m obsessed with reading, and when I learn something new I can’t wait to share it with the next person. It all started in high school when I was on the Parliamentary Procedure Team, Math Team and Scholar’s Bowl Team. I still have the trophies.

2. I love trivia. Jeopardy has been my obsession since I was little. There was a point in my life when I wanted to be Alex Trebek, but after a failed attempt to make “Here’s Lara Worsham” sound catchy, I gave up the dream. I remember when my dad bought me Jeopardy for my PC. I hugged the box, I actually squeezed the cardboard (reinforcing random fact #1). I’m not saying that I’m a mastermind at trivia, I just enjoy it. Even if I don’t get one, single question right, I’m guaranteed to come out of it knowing at least one more bit of information I didn’t know before.

3. I have small dogs, but I love big dogs. I have two Jack Russell Terriers–Maggie and Woody. It is true, Jack Russell Terriers need doggie Prozac. They are intensely jealous of each other and two of the most intelligent beings I have seen that stand a mere 10 inches.

4. My favorite movie is Barefoot in the Park. Utter perfection. It’s romantic, silly, and charming. I fell in love with Jane Fonda and Robert Redford after this movie, especially Robert Redford. I’m hoping some day scientists discover a way to clone celebrities. I’d suggest we start with him, he’s, in a word, perfect.

5. Like I mentioned before, I love to read. When I go to the library, I’ll check out 8 books and have them read and critiqued by the end of the week. I read for pleasure and to be able to have something to discuss with my mother over coffee. I’m currently looking into joining an online book club. I welcome any suggestions.

6. I’m an Auburn graduate and PROUD of it. War Eagle! I am the only Auburn graduate in not only my immediate family, but also my extended family. Majority of the rest went to the other school in Alabama, so I would like to give praise to Tommy Tuberville and his tigers for giving me an enjoyable Thanksgiving while enrolled as a student at Auburn University. Keep up the good work Tubs!

7. I give my best effort at humor when I’m nervous. I begin rambling, become flustered, tell jokes that aren’t the least bit funny and then laugh at myself. Its actually quite the spectacle.

8. And last, but not least I’m in love, with a city. I had the opportunity to visit Chicago several times this summer and spend most of my extra time trying to figure out how to start my career in Public Relations there (again, I welcome any suggestions.) The city has been so good to me, I feel it is my duty to relocate there.

You wanted random, I gave you random.

Until next time…

Where to begin?? I thought I would re-launch my blog with a little update on what I have been doing since my last post, which was more than a year ago. Wow! I don’t even know what to say about that…I don’t know how I managed to slip under the radar for that long. April 28, 2006. That is the last day I poured my thoughts into this blog. So, I have some catching up to do, so here goes…

I finished out the semester in May ‘06 and was looking forward to my summer in the city of Angels. Shortly after finals were wrapped up, I packed my bags, boarded a plane, and was headed to “LaLa” land. I had secured an internship with Conquest Entertainment, an entertainment company which handles special events for the Patron Spirits Company, in Los Angeles. Imagine my excitement! Working as a special events intern, I had the opportunity to shadow the associate who worked tirelessly on making sure every detail of the upcoming event had been addressed. Working under gave new meaning to the phrase “detail-oriented.” I had the opportunity to assist with a charity gala at The Sunset in Malibu, an event to raise funds to maintain the beauty of California’s beaches. It was amazing to see all the work and dedication each sponsor put into this event. Other than people giving me a hard time about my southern accent, the event went smoothly and was a huge success. I spent the remainder of the summer learning as much as I could from the associate at Conquest while she worked on the Bow Wow Ciao event for Much Love Animal Rescue.

I returned to Auburn in August bright-eyed and a changed woman. I had an internship under my belt and was ready to wrap up my time at Auburn and see what the future held for me. My last semester was, by far, my favorite time in the classroom. I was going to be able to apply everything I had learned in all my classes and my internship to my final project—a campaign for the College of Liberal Arts. It was a total success. I couldn’t have asked for a better group and our client couldn’t have been more pleased (if I do say so myself)!!

Next step…graduation. It was an unusually sunny day in December, and I like to think of that as a sign for my future…bright. Following graduation, I had the typical post-grad anxiety spells, but found myself more than pleased to work with the Office of Development for the Auburn Fund. While enrolled, I had worked with the Auburn Fund as a student representative, raising unrestricted funds for each school and college at Auburn. I was pleased to become an interim development coordinator, and gain such valuable hands-on experience working under the Director of Annual Giving. I had the opportunity to assist the director with day-to-day business activities, help brainstorm on how to recruit new student representatives and apply these ideas, assist with special events kicking off a new campaign for the Auburn Fund, among many other tasks. It was a great learning experience in the non-profit sector of Public Relations. But I always knew I wanted more, that is the primary reason I was an “interim” development coordinator. I dreamed of working for a PR agency in a big city, so in May I felt I had learned a great deal in my position but it was time to move on.

I spent this summer trying to “find myself,” and what I found was Chicago. I visited Chicago several times this summer and fell head over heels in love. I didn’t even know it was possible to love a city quite as much as I love Chicago, but it happened. If you haven’t been, book your flight tonight. It’s amazing.

So, what am I doing now? Well, right this instant, I’m actually pouring myself a cup of coffee, but I spend my days researching agencies with offices in Chicago. Chicago has become my drive and my goal. But having no agency experience, I’m finding it harder and harder to find an entry-level job with an agency without an internship. But I haven’t quite figured out how, if an internship is the route I’m going to have to take, I can possibly afford to live in Chicago with an intern’s pay, maybe that’s a far-fetched idea. (I welcome any suggestions from my readers) But I don’t regret my choice to intern with the entertainment company in Los Angeles; I learned a lot about planning events and myself. L.A. thickened my skin and forced me to open my eyes to this bright, shiny world. It was an experience I will never forget, and I thank Conquest Entertainment for the opportunity to be a part of their team, even for a short period of time.

With this post, I hope I’ve caught all of my readers up on my life. My life is definitely a wave pool with its ups and downs, but if there’s anything my family and friends will say about me is that I like to rock to boat and create my own waves.

Until next time,
Lara

Surveys are done, and I am sure I speak for the entire class when I say a weight has been lifted off our shoulders. Radio listening habits have been assessed, shopping preferences analyzed, and the new age of online news has been critiqued. A few things that I have found after working hours upon hours on my survey:

1. Have faith. At first when we discussed how we would reach the entire student body to be able to generalize about the population, we were hesitant using email. We expected a small response pool, and even has formulated a plan B to try to reach students in a face-to-face approach. We wanted 400 responses to our emails…we received 1,982 responses. Didn’t see that one coming.

2. Be consistent. We found that being consistent with our survey and creating an introductory paragraph, and sending the exact same survey to everyone is the most sufficient way to conduct a survey.

3. Contact is key. Staying in contact with our client constantly, as well as each group member proved to create a group that meshed well. Without communication we would have been lost, and had all been working on the same thing getting nothing done.

Sometimes group projects can be a headache and stress all students out. Worrying with who will do what is something that is a familiar problem. These are just some key points that we, as a group, have worked on and polished to create what I think was a great project.

This past week one of my best friends was involved in a car accident outside of my hometown. The morning I found out, I waited to hear her condition and found out that she was air-lifted to the hospital in Birmingham to be placed in NICU. Her mom called and let me know that things were not looking up for her, and within two hours I was in the hospital sitting side-by-side with her parents and grandparents.

At the time, nothing related to school or Public Relations crossed my mind, but as her condition begins to improve. I began thinking about one thing that displayed the positive relations Regional Medical Center has instilled in their company. My friend was a nurse at this hospital, and was actually on her way to work when the accident happened. She arrived at the hospital at 11 in the morning, and by 2 I was there.

The one thing that I just realized, was that the hospital that she works for sent two employees to the hospital to be with her family. Within 30 minutes of my arrival at the hospital, two people who were members of the staff at Regional Medical Center came into the waiting room and spoke with her family, letting them know they were there and supporting her recovery.

It is a simple gesture and a simple task to send two people representing the hospital to the hospital my friend was at because it is only an hour away, but I thought that simple gesture spoke positively for the hospital. To me, it showed that Regional Medical Center places a high emphasis on employee relations and shows that they really do care about their employees. After speaking with my friend’s mother, she told me that Regional Medical Center has been in contact with her regularly checking her status. I gained a lot of respect for that hospital after I set back and began thinking about these kind gestures. I know if it means a lot to me, it will mean a lot to my friend when she gets well.

With this post, I am going to veer off from my usual discussion of hot topics in the media. I’m not going to reference an article I read, or express my opinion about any issue. I am going to talk about the advice I gave to an underclassman who was contemplating majors. I don’t mean to toot my own horn, but I think it is good advice that can be applied to many different situations.

My friend is a sophomore approaching her junior year which is typically the time when students begin making major decisions, and begin the long haul to receiving their degree of choice. I was working on one of my projects for class, and she said to me “I could never do that.” She explained to me that she had no idea what she wanted to do because she felt intimidated by some aspect of all the majors she had contemplated. I remembered back to my junior year when I was making the same decision, and I remember my advisor saying to me, “Now public relations is not going to be easy,” well I knew that going into it so I tried not to let that discourage me.

So now on to the advice I gave, I told her that every major is going to be hard no matter what some aspect is going to challenge you. I told her that a major will be as difficult as you make it, and although it seems unrealistic to think that you will be able to do some of the things that scare you now, if you are passionate about it you will overcome those obstacles. I stressed to her the fact of being passionate about what she is doing. I have read many articles, and listened to many lectures in marketing about passion being the “fifth P,” and how important it is that you are passionate about either the product you are placing in the market, or in this situation how passionate you are about your work.

Passion can lead to success. If you are passionate about something, then you will work hard and accomplish your goals. It may be time-consuming and tedious work, but passion drives you to do your best and to keep on going. Passion will push you that extra step and make you go above and beyond. I told her that the reason most people excel in their major/work is because they are passionate and are willing to go that extra mile.

I thought what I told her was good advice and could be applied to many different circumstances, so I wanted to share what I told her and hope that I was leading her in the right direction.