Erin Caldwell, a recent graduate and employee at Edelman attributes her hire at the agency in large part, to her PR blog. Here, at the Forward Blog (see the blogroll, it’s a great one for students!), she talks about the importance of understanding new media for new graduates.
At Allen Hall PR, our student-run PR agency at the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication, my AE, Michelle Pera, and I talked about blogging specifically – giving students a step by step to get started.
I credit Nedra at Spare Change for being my “seed blog.” I’m sure I was searching for social marketing for a presentation I was giving to the United Way Success by Six leadership team and came across her blog. She’s has a great blogroll. And the rest, as they say, is history.
I’ve always been a little nerdy, but I know lots of students resist. I have students who vehemently swear that they don’t need to know computer basics – like formatting Office documents, creating a media list with a database or the basics of Web site publishing. I fear for them. I really do.
Find your “seed blog,” try Web 2.0 services like Stikkit or Pandora (my faves!)… as I like to preach: be active, be curious, be engaged!
What do you think? Is social media this important? Or can you be a tech-avoider and do just fine?
