Social Media Celebrity 101

This semester I have been taking a New Media and Public Relations class (hence the reason for the blog that you are reading). The class focuses on social media, 2-way communications and the growing importance of authenticity and transparency in successful business. All of which, of course, is an onset of the Internet.

I think what strikes me most about the class is the fact that I feel that half of what I am learning is stuff that I should have been learning the past four years in college and half of what I am learning is stuff that I have already learned on my own (i.e. how to use YouTube, Facebook, blogs, etc.)

If PR is really becoming all about new media than why does BU’s communication school only have one class devoted to this? Shouldn’t we learn about blogging and social media news releases in the same classes where we learn about press releases and media advisories? And shouldn’t authenticity, transparency and business as a conversation be themes that are ingrained in us as early as COM 101? It seems strange to me that I am just hearing of many of theses new media PR services for the first time now even though many of them have been around for years now.

And to think I signed up for this class just to fill an elective! I feel like had I decided to pursue a career in PR and not taken this class than I would have been behind some of my more new media savee competition. Also, I feel that BU’s education is a little behind on this integrated social marketing and communications trend. Funny considering we are considered one of the best communication schools in the nation…

Anyways, that’s enough ranting.


One of our recent assignments was to create a podcast about a topic of our choice. My group chose to do “How to Become a New Media Celebrity” (think Obama Girl or the Free Hugs Guy). Check out our Social Media Celebrity 101 podcast here:

http://youtube.com/user/bunewmedia

On The Agenda for Today Is....

Did you ever notice that the occasions you look forward to the most usually end up being the most disappointing? Its as if we build these events up so much in our heads that they cannot possibly live up to our wildly fantastic expectations.

I first remember noticing this at high school prom. Months before prom people started to become anxious. Who will I go with? What will I wear? How am I going to style my hair? We spent hours upon hours planning for prom. What would we do for dinner? How would we get there? What would we do after? And once the infamous night finally arrived, the night we had planned down to the tiniest detail to ensure that we would have an amazing time, it turned out to be nothing more exciting than what it was. A four-hour dance.

As senior year comes to an end this seems to be happening more and more frequently. All the “big” days, i.e. the long awaited 50 Days ‘Til Graduation Party, the last Marathon Monday as a college student, my last sorority formal, etc., are rather dull once the dust settles. Sure, some of them were fun. But they were all about as fun as any other day of the week that you get to party with your friends.

Where are the fireworks? Where is that magical feeling of KNOWING that this very night is something you will remember forever??

In fact, some of my absolute favorite college memories take place on the days that weren’t planned at all. A barbeque on a whim during a beautiful spring day or a random night out at the local bar when everyone there just seems to be in an exceptionally good mood.

Sometimes I think in life we plan too much. We are too organized. Too conventionalized. We live in a society with an extreme paranoia about the unknown.

In class we are given syllabuses on the first day that outline the entire semester to the smallest detail. If a teacher makes a change to the schedule- such as having a guest lecturer come on a different day- the entire class immediately pulls out his/her syllabus to denote this minor change.

I want to live in a world with less structure and more spontaneity. Although I understand that planning social functions ahead of time is often necessary- for example, you obviously cannot just decide you feel like getting married today and expect everyone to be free to come to your wedding- I sometimes think that if we lived life more on the whim we would all have more fun.

For the next few weeks I plan to have no plan.