Why I love PR (at Ohio University)

I did not intend to be a public relations major when I entered college at Ohio University. As lame as it may sound, after seeing "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days", my heart was set on magazine journalism. I had been the features editor of my school paper my senior, and it simply seemed that that was where my interests lie. Freshman year I still considered myself a magazine journalism major. I had my heart set on Cosmo or Glamour. The fashion world was my calling. Then, in the fall of my sophomore year, I decided to take MJ Clark's class, Public Relations Principles- and I have been a PR junkie ever since.

My faith that the PR world has only gotten stronger over the past several weeks since getting back into the swing of things in my senior year at Ohio University. My obsession with up and coming social media forms has only become stronger. And thanks to some wonderful opening year meetings and speakers- my love of PR grows by the second.

I had the chance to hear Aaron Brown of Fahlgren Mortine speak for the first time at a PRSSA meeting yesterday. His passion for what he does, for what WE as current and future PR professionals do, is overwhelming. I swear, people had a spring in their step when they walked out of that room last night.

I am so excited for everything the year ahead of me holds- particularly when in comes to PR. I am being given the awesome opportunity to work on an ImPRessions account for Bob Evans- our firm's biggest and only corporate client. And my freelance opportunities continue to grow. So, the reason for the title of my blog today? Here they are, the reasons why I love PR (at Ohio University):

1. I've said it before, and I will say it a thousand times again, "I AM A SOCIAL MEDIA JUNKIE" and it seems like all my other PR friends are jumping on the social media bandwagon- or maybe I'm pushing a few of them on to it? (:
2. Networking, Networking, Networking. The PRSSA chapter at OU is giving me an opportunity to meet some fabulous current and future PR professionals and a chance to network with PRSA members as well
3. The classes. Jour 471 is giving me the chance to work with some unique and wonderfully fabulous PR ladies- we are all so different that our project meetings are a part of my day that I look forward to the most!
4. The professors. Michelle Honald is a godsend to the PR program at OU. She knows what she's talking about and I have a feeling I will learn so much more from her in the months to come.
5. The students. Let's face it. We really are a bunch of over achieving Scripps Kids. But that's why we're in the program. That's why we are at OU. We are all the future leaders of the PR industry- and we'll be thankful to have known each other as the years roll on.
6. ImPRessions. We don't have the top student-run PR firm in the nation for lack of trying! ImPRessions offers PR students true hands on experience like that of a real PR firm. Where else could you get the opportunity to work on PR for deserving non-profits, student organizations- and even a huge corporate account like Bob Evans!?
7. The Scripps school name. Let's face it. People hear OU Journalism and they love you immediately. OU turns up some truly talented journalists. It's up to us to uphold that name.
8. OU Alum. Bobcats love hiring bobcats, particularly when it comes to PR.
9. Let's face it, I just love PR in general! There is no better place for it than Ohio University. We should all be thankful to be in such a wonderful, hands on program. I know I am....

Keeping up is hard work

As I spent my lunch hour today updating myself on entire month's worth of friends' blogs, I was reminded of a time about two months ago when I did what every close to graduating college student should do: I googled myself. With a name as unique as my own, more than half the results that show up really are me. About half way down the page, I discovered (gasp!) that LiveJournal I created at age 16, the one where I poured my heart out on the Internet through a mess of bad grammar and emoticons, yeah- THAT LiveJournal- still existed in the realms of Cyber Space. And, was still linked to my name no less! After 45 minutes, and racking my brain for every possible password I had used in the past half decade, my account was finally deleted. And, in a mere 30 days- the Journal was erased from any searchable history.

The moral of this little story? People can find out a lot about you simply by going to google.com. But let me digress. I am an avid user of social networking tools. I would almost go as far as to say that I am addicted to their convenience. From Facebook and Twitter, to LinkedIn, Del.icio.us and Digg- I have it all. At any given point in the day, a perfect stranger could know where I am, what I am doing, what I look like, my likes and dislikes. It's scary. Yet, this scary convenience is something I could not live without. There has never been a better time to be involved in the world of PR and Marketing. We have a brand new social networking front to discover, the Internet is our sand box and my oh my have we begun to play. My latest discovery? PROpenMic. This site not only allows me to connect with friends, colleagues and classmates, but it is industry specific, too.

So, what's the catch? By creating accounts on every site under the sun, you can essentially lock yourself in a networking box. I used to wake up every morning and read the New York Times and my hometown's local newspaper. But with the advent of social networking, I discovered other ways to spend that extra 20 minutes I allot every morning. Why read a newspaper (or a newspaper site) when I have Digg? And really, when it is that important, I'm sure someone will have a post about it on Twitter. I lost my own nack for figuring out what is actually going on in the world. And so I propose to you, and this is certainly a resolution for myself as well, keep in touch. Blog, tweet, facebook (yes, we've turned all of these into verbs) but make sure you still pay attention to the OUTSIDE world. There's a lot going on out there. And a facebook post isn't real news- it's really only a tid bit of gossip for the most part, isn't it?

Comments? Complaints? E-mail me, Callista.Conzett@gmail.com