Reviewing classmates blogs

Recently in my Public Relations Crisis Management class, we discussed the obesity crisis in America and how different organizations, such as Kraft or McDonalds, dealt with the issues. After reading Kaylen McMullen's blog, I wondered if these companies in the U.S used similar research as Europeans to figure out the solution. Last semester I went abroad to Italy. I found it very hard to eat healthy over there (obviously) and work out on a daily basis. There gyms do not have up to date equipment and their food is just way to good to turn down. Now that I am back in the U.S, I live an even healthier lifestyle than I did before I went away. Making sure to get a good amount of exercise in as well as maintaining a healthy diet. I think that the HELENA study is going to really help Europeans live happier lifestyles. The researcher of the HELENA study should set up a meeting with some of our PR people in America. Kraft for example started putting a cap on portion size of single-serve packages as well as placing nutritional labels in their entire worldwide market. They really encourage healthy life styles for Americans. It seems that the researchers of the HELENA study are on the right track. They are trying to figure out questions like why citizens choose certain food, as well as social and cultural differences throughout the world. Kaylen made a great point as well, "If a person starts leading a better lifestyle at this stage, it is more likely that he or she will continue it for the rest of his or her life".

This morning I heard that there was a shooting at the University of Texas. I could not find much information on the Internet on my phone and I did not have access to a computer, so I went on my twitter to find out what had happened. Every 2 minutes, there was at least 30 new tweets regarding the shooting and giving updates and play by plays. When I read Francesca Mount's blog about research on social media it really caught my attention.  Francesca showed surprising statistics that the most users on twitter are from ages 18-34. I would expect young teens to be using it a lot more than young adults. Although, as I kept reading she explained that it is vital for companies and organizations to use twitter as a news feed, to get their information out faster. I have a twitter account myself and I think it is a much faster way of finding out news and information rather than reading an entire article about it. This blog made me realize that twitter is not only a social networking site, but also a news-related website, AND an ongoing research study. Organizations can measure how many people follow their product, brand, celebrities, fashions and so on, just by looking at the amount of followers. They can also have people "re-tweet" which will help give them more input and opinions of their customers and consumers.

The funny thing about blogs...

There is a funny thing about blogs, they are kind of like online journals, but they are put out there for everyone to see. It gives the blogger a place to write their thoughts and opinions on different topics. They could manipulate the truth of the topic by using frames. Frames are ways that PR people write things to change the mindset of what the reader is thinking. Although journals are supposed to be kept to yourself. Bloggers often write blogs so that their readers can view their opinions on certain subjects.

I follow a good amount of blogs such as PerezHilton, TheCut, ILoveWildfox, etc. Every blog obviously needs to do its research. For this particular blog, I even had to do my own research by looking at different media websites, media blogs, the entertainment sections in different newspapers and so on. Considering that this blog is for a research class I don’t try to manipulate my research results, but simply put my own edge on them. I do chose to ignore some research I find because it simply does not apply to what my blog is about.

For other bloggers who have sponsers such as Perez Hilton he can choose to do whatever he wants with his blog. For example, he often picks on Linday Lohan, calling her Linsanity. In order for him to come up with a post about her he needed to research his information. His most recent post about her was titled “Lindsanity Does Drugs Out of Boredom”. What Perez had to do was find this story about her, then manipulate it with his opinion, putting humor into it and trying to change the mindsets of the readers. He could have came across something positive about Lindsay Lohan, such as that she’s been sober for 10 days, but he simply ignores the positive research about her and brings out the negativity.

Other blogs such as iLoveWildfox is a fashion blog. The writer of this blog has to do a different kind of research, street research. She takes pictures of different street fashions as well as pictures of her friends dressed in unique clothing. Many fashion blogs follow street fashion, but they also research fashion designers, fashion shows, and different models. The uniqueness of a blog as it pertains to your likings. After you finish your research, you get to choose what goes in your blog and what does not make the cut. You post what you desire, then people can choose to follow you or not.

Eminem/ Jay Z Concert brings in over 40,000 - - both nights!

The beginning of this week marked a hip-hop historical event for rappers Eminem and Jay Z, who performed two concerts at Yankee Stadium, in NY on Monday and Tuesday night. Both artists have been around for nearly two decades winning fans left in right with each new album or hit single that comes out. To young artists, they are role models, to the fans they are favorites.

A total of four shows took place for Eminem and Jay Z's "home and home" tour. Two in Detroit and two in the Bronx. I was fortunate enough to attend the last show in NY and it was by far one of the most incredible nights of my life. Over 42,000 fans showed up to Yankee Stadium both Monday and Tuesday night traveling from all over the world. I met three guys from England who claimed to be die hard Jay Z fans. I also met a few students from the University of Miami who said they were skipping 3 days of classes to make this concert.

It is no shock that this many people attended this epic concert, although after spending the last week in PR research learning about levels of evaluation I tried to apply it to these shows. It is easy to assume that there were probably press releases sent to magazines like Vibe and Rolling Stone that placed stories and adds about the concert. I also saw news coverage on TV stations like MTV, BET and VH1. Every time I listened to the radio in the past week they were having competitions to win free tickets for the concert. The outcome level was definitely not difficult to measure, the day the tickets went on sale over the summer, they were sold out in under a half hour. When you put the words "Eminem" and "Jay Z" next to each other, it grabbed the attention of all fans of hip hop music around the world. That also helped measure the outgrowth level. If you stood outside Yankee Stadium on either night, just by listening you would realize how many people bought tickets. I bought mine for close to $300. The best seats were priced at over $1000.  Finally measuring the outperform level is pretty self explanatory.

Overall this concert was a hit! The PR people did their jobs exquisitely, the artists put on an amazing concerts with about 10 different special guests and all the fans were more than satisfied. 

Social Media: A Tool or a Trick?

In my Public Relations Research class I have been asked to keep a blog throughout the semester regarding PR research issues and something I am interested in. My focus in PR is media relations and agency PR, so I have decided to direct the focus of my blog to the media. In my blog I will discuss different media issues that occur in the US regarding media entertainment, fashions, news, public figures, politics and whatever else seems to strike a problem that could have been prevented.

Earlier in the week we read a PR News article titled "Measurement, Social Media Big PA Hurdles". It discussed how one of the biggest challenges for public affairs professionals is measuring the efforts of social medias, (i.e Facebook, Twitter, Blogging). Today I came across a post titled "Social Media Reality Check 2010", this post was from a blog created by Paul Seaman,  a PR professional from Switzerland. He talks about how social media is not so "glossy" anymore in the UK because it is hurting business personal and political reality. 

(Link to Paul Seaman's post- - > http://paulseaman.eu/2010/02/social-media-reality-check-2010/)

In the United States we have celebrities, companies, different publications and even President Obama using social media websites like twitter. In the past few years at my University I have learned that these social media websites are one of the fastest tools to primary research for projects. Even at my internship this past summer I used Facebook to send out surveys. Every day on popular media blogs like "Perez Hilton" or "TMZ" there is a new blast about someone in the media tweeting something that could potentially get them into some trouble. Will these public officials need to shut down their twitter accounts? Or will they just need better publicists?