Teaching PR

The Week's Best, 30 November 2009

• The Facebook 50, The Big Money (via @armano)
• Landing the Interview vs. Getting the Job, Richard Laermer
• Social Media Presence Won't Land You a Job, Lauren Fernandez
• Ken Sunshine on Tiger Woods:"His People Mishandled It," Joe Ciarallo; Is Tiger Woods in the Weeds? Damage Control Expert Says No, Jason Chupik; and Tiger Woods and the PR Machine, Heather Yaxley
• The Three Phases of the Social Web, Richard Bailey
• What PR Professionals Need to Know about Web Analytics, Nils Mork-Ulnes
• New Hire Stunts from Agencies--Is This the Future of Recruiting?, Jennifer A. Jones (h/t @lizazzolino)

NCA09: Globalization and PR

On the last day of the NCA conference I dragged my suitcase into one last session before heading to the airport, a panel discussion "exploring the relationship between globalization and public relations." The panel consisted of

• Nilanjana Bardhan, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
• Robert Wakefield, Brigham Young University
• Kaustubh Nande, Ohio University
• Nancy Van Leuven, Bridgewater State College
• Debra Worley, Indiana State University
• Celia Kay Weaver, University of Waikato

Nilanjana Bardhan suggested that a good definition of globalization views the world as an interlocking system rather than as separate nations; she argued that globalization is acknowledged but not interrogated, and the international approach (treating nation-states as units of analysis) remains dominant in public relations. The Western style of PR still sets the standard for excellence, and Western agencies are established only in economically established nations. Globalization can be viewed as imposed from above and criticized or fought off from below.

Robert Wakefield asserted that international research in public relations is often descriptive and although it claims to be comparative it usually isn't really so. Where does transnational fit? How is reputation (not brand) managed across national and other borders? He referenced the generic/specific theory of public relations which attempts to address a polarity of thought -- PR is centralized (global) or PR is different in each place (local) -- and said that it never achieved what he thought it promised, noting that Toby McManus said the theory attempted to include cultural differences located in the middle ground between ethnocentric and more global approaches. Sriramesh and Vervic's book used this approach in several chapters, but most chapters remained descriptive. Since the theory was first proposed, a number of changes--such as media and activism crossing borders via the Internet or cultures crossing national borders--have only emphasized the importance of the theory's approach. He pointed out that public relations is usually studied from the center (the organization) out, rather than from the periphery.

Nancy Van Leuven pointed out that an international organization like the Red Cross can't even choose a logo that works internationally, emphasizing how difficult international public relations can be. She looked at China, an 800-lb. gorilla, as a case study. PR started only in the early 1980s and has been expanding more rapidly since 2000. What is PR in China? Is it just promotion? Are Western models even applicable? How does Chinese culture influence relationship cultivation? She also pointed to specific differences such as, in addition to the obvious political/economic differences, the media (where market competitiveness redefines media function) and social/cultural difference, including the importance of interpersonal communication. She said that universities are starting to offer beginners classes such as even management, but that communication agencies in China still have armed guards around them -- yet they can hold press conferences at any time.

Kaustubh Nande described his job at Intel's Emerging Markets public relations program, where he pitched local Indian editors with stories about key messages such as how computers are good for society and helpful in education and careers. A critical perspective began to emerge, he said, when an editor asked him if he were selling education and careers, or computers. There was no line between community PR and marketing; it was megamarketing. He also pointed out that most people aren't global or interconnected; rather, systems are. Only one class of people are actually interconnected.

Debra Worley picked up on this notion and asked, "If students are not global, how do we introduce these ideas?" She did a content analysis of introductory PR textbooks, identifying major discussion areas as trends in globalization, technology as a channel to distribute and gather information, and cross-cultural communication as a way to understand differences in language, culture, etc. appropriately; she identified the latter as the best place to start in an introductory text. She described an assignment in which students were given a case and asked to write strategic plans for Western and non-Western cultures, working in groups to analyze how they did it and why. 

Finally, Kay Weaver addressed ways that critical theory can contribute to understanding globalization and what it can contribute to PR practice in a globalized context. First, it seeks to understand power in a global context, which is important to understanding how PR is linked to national and international power structures, and recognizing inequities in power. As an example she described the Maori people in New Zealand, who act as a sort of human subjects board in determining whether and how these indigenous people can be studied. To receive permission to conduct research, a scholar must show not just how the research will contribute to theory but also how it can help oppressed people -- not just identifying them as oppressed. The scholar must ask what those being researched want as well; it resonates, she said, with symmetrical theory in public relations. 

At the end of the session Rob Wakefield made the interesting point that four of the six scholars advocated in some way studying public relations from the periphery, the view of the stakeholders, rather than the center, the view of the organization--which linked this session to my earlier post on cocreationalism in PR research.

The Week's Best, 23 November 2009

• From an H&K Executive: A One-Page Resume Is Best, Tiffany Gallicano 
• One Reason Not to Hate Twitter's New Retweet Function, Shannon Paul
• Sustainability: Are Consumers Buying It? (PDF), PriceWaterhouseCoopers (via Caroline Wilson)
• Unfriending the Delebs While Being Intexticated, Diane Schwartz
• The Future of Movie Marketing, Todd Defren
• What a Dumb Question, Harold Burson
• IKEA: Facebook Showroom (video), via @Aerocles

NCA09: PR Lyceum on co-creational meaning

My favorite session at NCA was the PR Lyceum on co-creational meaning. Evidently it was a conference first, and I'm glad I got to be there, listening to some of the top scholars in our field -- both on the panel and in the audience -- debating the merits of this theoretical approach. 

The panel started with Maureen Taylor's three questions: is a new approach (paradigm, model or theory) needed in public relations? Is the cocreational view the exact theory needed? If not, then what? She reminded us that theory should be generative and parsimonious and should be able to predict and explain, and pointed out that while PR scholars frequently cite theory from related fields like health communication, scholars in those fields never cite PR theory. The current theories, she argued, have limited us. As an alternative she offered a social constructionist approach, viewing publics as co-creators of meaning, advocating that we should stop studying ourselves (meaning organizations and practitioners) and study publics instead.

Next, Carl Botan furthered refined the notion of co-creation but saying it refers to the role of the publics in creating, not just responding to messages. Co-creation is not the same as interpretation, which gives publics a less active role (how do they process the messages we send them), but is an active process of integrating their own knowledge with intentional and unintentional messages. The approach is neither sender- nor message-centered, and we need a nuanced understanding of this process at least as sophisticated as our understanding of the senders. He concludes that the cocreational approach is metatheoretic (a set of criteria used to evaluate other PR theories) but argued that it can also stand as a theory itself, capable to lead us to posing research questions and hypotheses. He then presented data from a study on climate change communication in which that data supported the cocreational approach. Co-creation is not an either/or, he concluded, but operates as a sliding continuum.

Elizabeth Toth then argued that PR theory already offers three different ways to conceptualize publics. First, she identified parallels between this approach and J. Grunig's work, particularly situational theory, which sees publics having an identity of organizing around something, and which has been confirmed by research. Second, scholars have already conceptualized publics as they are constructed through language and discourse, examining the struggle over meaning. And third, critical approaches such as Dozier and Lauzen's article on extending the intellectual domain have shown that public could have irreconcilable differences with organizations and that they self-organize and are not powerless. Thus, while not discounting it, she pointed out that PR scholarship need not be limited to this one approach.

Next, Robert Heath said that as a rhetorical scholar, he would identify Aristotle as the starting point for cocreational theory. Publics are there because of issue position, he argued; they are not separate from the issues that define them. We live together in joined and disjointed discourse, and we still don't know how it all works (noting activism as an example). Meaning trumps process and infrastructure in his view, and if we impose the cocreational model on PR we are fracturing ourselves. Society is not getting better at solving collective problems, he said, and discourse can create meaning that is dysfunctional.

Finally, Tim Coombs started with the notion of grand theory, one that tries to explain everything in the field; the problem here is that PR is hugely amorphous, so how can we capture it all? Adopting one theoretical approach has the unintended consequence of limiting research. Instead he advocated Robert Merton's notion of theories of the middle range, explaining the smaller parts first and then trying to put them all together. As a metatheory, the cocreational approach can act as a touchstone for middle range research when it's relevant to a particular study. He asserted that cocreationalism can make us more reflexive of our research and how it affects our society, intentionally and unintentionally, but argued that it needs to address the problem of power, because co-creators are not in reality equal.

The discussion that followed was so lively I didn't attempt to keep up with it all in my notes, but a few points stood out.

• Vince Hazelton, the session moderator, asked why it had to be either/or? We should focus on both organization and publics because we are all speakers. We should study interaction and symbolic exchange.
• Michael Palenchar suggested that focusing on discourse rather than publics addresses the issue of power.
• Maureen Taylor conceded that cocreationalism is not so much a new approach as a new name that might help PR theory cross disciplinary boundaries.

Based on the discussion, my impression was that most people thought that the co-creation approach is useful and a good addition to the field, but that they were not willing to consider it as the best or even the primary theoretical approach for the field.

NCA09: PR educators on teaching social media & public relations

This year I decided to attend the National Communication Association meeting for the first time. My first session of my first NCA conference turned out to be a great one, focusing on how social media can be incorporated into public relations classes. Here are brief summaries of the presentations.

Tiffany Derville, University of Oregon, provided a "podcasting lesson" handout (update: here's the lesson), which included what to do prior to the lesson, discussion questions, and an assignment with a grading matrix. She talked about how important it is to explain the rules of social media prior to setting the students loose -- for example, that not many people will be interested in your podcast if it's nothing but an ad. She also emphasized that podcasting is just one tactic that's part of a broader strategy, not an end itself. She listed the top 5 mistakes she made the first time she gave the assignment, saying she wished she would have emphasized these things more:

• The audience can hear rustling papers on the podcast. 
• Don't let the presentation sound scripted.
• If the student doesn't care about the topic, their tone of voice reflects it.
• Don't talk too quickly. 
• Podcasts must be based on research and new information (not bland generalities). 

Bill Handy, a visiting professor at Oklahoma State, noted that he teaches the only stand-alone course on social media and PR in Oklahoma, but pointed out that he thinks it will be a short-lived class (meaning it will be integrated in other courses soon). He discussed a number of issues relating to adding social media to educational mix. Among these are the cultural issue of convincing faculty to accept social media -- including the university's branding possibilities, organizing all of it, and making sure people understand that conflicting messages and points of view are part of the value of social media. Nurturing communities and finding the content when someone doesn't realize they're participating are probably the biggest issues. And there are legal implications as well, from FERPA to copyright. He suggests that 30% of people in any organization will resist adopting social media. 

Bill also discussed the benefits of adopting social media. Cost savings, tearing down walls between academic settings (such as those between B- and J-schools), and extending the classroom conversation beyond the classroom walls. For example, using a wiki allows former students to continue to participate in the conversation with current students, whereas university sites like Blackboard kick former student off the site. 

Kelli Matthews of the University of Oregon agreed that stand-alone courses are probably short-lived. Nonetheless, she's teaching a social media strategy course now and described an assignment to create a social media plan similar to a traditional PR plan, focusing on strategy rather than the technology. She sees this as a way to incorporate SM into general PR classes, although she uses it as the final assignment in her SM Strategy class with a real client. Students work in teams of 2-3 mostly for the same client, but they can also choose another client if they have the ability to get inside information (not just finding information on the Web). In the publics section she asks students to incorporate Social Technographics in the plan, based on Groundswell. They also have to incorporate the Groundswell phases of Listening, Talking, Energizing, Supporting, and Embracing. She expects a significant measurement component with awareness, interest and action categories. Finally, they must include a realistic budget and timeline. At the end of the semester the "best" team was actually hired by the client to implement their plan.

Barbara Nixon, Georgia Southern University, credited the University of Georgia's inaugural Edelman Digital Bootcamp in 2008 with getting her started in social media. She reviewed different ways she's using social media in her classes, starting with the fact that she puts virtually all of her assignments online so anyone can see them on her class blog. She asks her students to blog and gives them a group of topics they can talk about. She said she's not using Flickr as much as she used to, but recommends to students that they take pictures of projects and assignments and upload them on their own. She also suggests that teams use Delicious so they can share bookmarks within groups. She does informal office hours in Facebook but asks students to block her from anything they didn't want their parents to see, and that classes sometimes have groups within Facebook, with varying degrees of interest on the part of the students. Students also sometimes use fan pages for clients when relevant. As for Twitter, to which she admits being addicted, Barbara uses class hashtags so students can follow only that if they wish. She also does a "one week of Twitter" assignment that requires students to use replies, links, retweets, etc. 

Kaye Sweetser, University of Georgia, discussed her viral video project that she used in PR writing but that could be used in other classes.  (Here's more information on the discussion and videos that went along with this assignment.) The assignment objectives are to identify the audience they are trying to reach with their video; determine the correct appeal; and create a message that will resonate with that audience. She picked a client, the UGA admissions office, and brought the client to the class for 30-45 minute talk on their publics and what they wanted to get out of the videos. She was very specific NOT to say "we want a rap," or anything that detailed, instead leaving it to the students to do their own creative work. Admissions officials pointed out that the 16-17 year old potential college student is one audience, but so are that kid's parents. Kaye said that prior to this assignment she did very traditional lectures on messaging, identifying audiences, types of appeals (she refers to Aristotle here), but added new things to her class a guest lecture via Skype by Paull Young of Converseon who discussed what makes a video go viral and provided a case study. He emphasized that you need to have a call to action in your video. She also lectured on finding appropriate and legal music for student videos. She gave the students access to Flip cams and to media labs, but provided no in-class training or tech support. Student teams turned in their videos on CDs, but she also asked them to provide keywords, title etc. for her to use when she uploaded the videos to YouTube. Then she put all five videos on a playlist and began publicizing it. Students received extra credit if the client chose to use the video, and extra credit for getting the most views.

Alisa Agozzino of Ohio Northern University teaches a social media class in which the students read Groundswell, The New Rules of Marketing and PR, Citizen Marketers, and The New Influencers. They have to blog three times a week for 10 weeks, including blogging about the books -- sometimes the authors comment. The second post is about public relations or social media, and the third is about the university in general. She also requires that students not to do all three posts on one day. In addition, students have to make three comments a week, at first just on each others' blogs, but after the first few weeks they must go outside the class. There is also a podcasting assignment and a viral video. On Twitter she requires students to follow two organizations to identify key audience and how well they reach the audience -- she encourages to contact the organization and see if they got it right. Finally, students have to do a social media resume on CV.com (three grads got jobs from it last year), and a 10-page ethics paper on social media, which she encourage that they submit to a conference.

At the end of the session Bill Handy quoted Lewis Menand's Harvard Magazine article: "It is the academic's job in a free society to serve the public culture by asking questions the public doesn't want to ask, investigating subjects it cannot or will not investigates, and accommodating voices it fails or refuses to accommodate." He suggested this is applicable to teaching social media as well; for example we can point out that research shows small groups are better in a number of ways, which goes against the "how do I get more followers" mentality often prevalent in social media.

The Week's Best, 16 November 2009

• Teaching the Facebook Generation, Elaine Young (h/t @lizazzolino); Why Education Needs Social Media, Venessa Miemis (via @jgombita); and PR Students Need to Learn Social Media Business Strategies, Sally Falkow
• Discovering Social Media in China, Michael Darragh
• Jack O'Dwyer: Web Will "Filter Down to Experts" (video), Joe Ciarallo
• Wave: Explanation v. Anthropology, Amanda Mooney and The Complete Guide to Google Wave, Gina Trapani and Adam Pash
• Evolution: The Eight Stages of Listening, Jeremiah Owyang
• 20 Job Search Facebook Apps for College Grads, New Grad Life (via @tmccorkindale)
• Adjusting to Agency Life (podcast), Allie Osmar (via @rachelesterline)

The Week's Best, 9 November 2009

• Google Dashboard and Online Privacy, David Kamerer 
• A Mass Comms Curriculum Alone Short-Sheets Tomorrow's PR Pro, Lou Hoffman
• The Blindsiding and Bubble of Social Media, Sean Moffitt
• 5 Big Things to Expect from Next Week's FDA Hearings, Rohit Bhargava
• The Ticker: Response to Ft. Hood Shootings, Jason Chupik
• 25 of the Most Powerful & Influential Women in Social Media 2009, Ron Hudson
• Twitter and Status Updating, Fall 2009, Pew (via Barry Hollander) 

PR professors on Twitter

Twitter's latest innovation is the list, which (like Tweetdeck and other applications) allows users to organize people into groups. For my first, I created a list of people who teach public relations.

If you're on Twitter, you can follow the list, which allows you to read the most recent tweets from anyone on the list; or you can just click on the "following" tab to find smart and interesting people to follow.

If you know of someone who's not on the list and should be, just reply to @karenrussell and I'll add them. As of today, I've identified 64 people, but I'm sure there are others!

The Week's Best, 2 November 2009

• How to Spam Facebook Like a Pro: An Insider's Confession, Dennis Yu (via PRNewser)
• Twitter Barrier of Entry and Ego Inflation, Mihaela Vorvoreanu 
• 4 Rules for Social Media Success: Luxury Brands, Urs E. Gattiker
• Phone Lex, Dan Santow
• Your Company May Own Your Tweets, Pokes, and YouTube Videos, Jeremiah Owyang
• Facebook Counts as a First Impression to Recruiters, Rachel Esterline
• Debate: Don't Hire a Social Media Intern, David Spinks
• 2010 Predictions: Will Social Media Reach Ubiquity?, Jennifer Leggio, and 2010 Predictions in Social Media, Jeremy Pepper
• Who the Hell ARE These People?, David Meerman Scott
• Negotiate Like an Indian, Ramit Sethi (h/t @kaye)
• What Should Be Included in a PR Portfolio?, Valerie Simon (via @FvrythingPR)
• Communicators Chart a New Path in China, Bob Page (via @wei2)