Does information ever really go away?

The theme for tomorrow's class is broadly--philosophical issues related to social media and the Internet.

The first of those issues is reviewed nicely by Jeffrey Rosen in an article titled, "The end of forgetting." Link here. While Rosen focuses more on the philosophical and legal issues related to the longevity of information posted on the Internet, you should think about the practical issues associated with public relations.

What will it mean for your career to operate in an environment where so much information is accessible? What will it mean for the practice of public relations now and in the future?

The second of the issues is privacy and the degree to which companies collect information about visitors to their websites. There is an ongoing series of articles by The Wall Street Journal that investigates how much information companies gather and how that information is used. The first article in the series is "The Web's new gold mine." Link here.

As you read this article, you should think about what line--if any--exists between how much information a company or organization should gather and some degree of privacy. You should also think about how gathering information from website visitors fits within our definition of public relations, particularly the concept of "maintaining and enhancing relationships."

You should also read another of the articles in the series and be prepared to discuss what you learned next class.

I look forward to hearing what you have to say.

Summer session of "Social media and public relations"

There are three required textbooks for undergraduates in PR 4301: Social Media and Public Relations:

The main text will be Brian Solis and Deidre Breakenridge's book Putting the public back in public relations. While I think the authors go a little too far in some of their assertions about how social media is changing everything about PR, I also think they do a nice job of highlighting the key issues related to public relations and social media.

I stumbled onto Dave Kerpen's likeable social media, and I really like the simple and straightforward way that he talks about the practical aspects of using social media.

For some of you, Dan Zarrella's book the social media marketing book might seem too elementary. Perhaps, but Zarrella performs a valuable service by providing a simple (yet not simplistic) overview of the main classes of tools we associate with social media.

All three books are available at the campus book store. (I would have included a link, but the link off the main TTU web page does not work. D'oh!) You can also find the books (new or used) in many other locations on the interwebs.

I look forward to our first class!