Get blog by email
My bookmarks
LinkedIn profile
Facebook profile
Teaching social media on university PR courses
Wednesday, August 13th, 2008 at 6:36 am
Hello - welcome to my website.
On my blog I write about marketing, public relations and digital communications. To keep up-to-date with my posts you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed or sign-up to receive blog posts by email.
Thanks for visiting and I hope you find my site useful.
Stuart Bruce points us in the direction of an emerging debate between PR lecturer Richard Bailey and one of his students Natalie Smith.
Richard is asking how he should be teaching the topic of social media on his PR degree course. Natalie has responded on her own blog with a good list of things that PR students need to get their heads around.
I wouldn’t disagree at all with Natalie’s list. What I’d add is that while the things on her list are valid now, the pace of change in social media means that in a few short years time there will undoubtedly be more tools that need adding to the list.
Something that I think would be good for Richard to consider would be teaching how the theory of social media relates to the practice. Having just completed a PR qualification I’m very aware of PR theory and its links with what I do day-to-day. Social media has challenged many of these theories and requires practitioners to think about them in different ways.
The other aspect that’s worth considering is how social media can be integrated into an overall public relations campaign. Very few PR people use social media alone - it’s always used alongside more “traditional” techniques. For me integration is a real challenge and an area that I think could benefit from more academic exploration.
That’s it for my thoughts. I hope they help Richard and Natalie. I’m well aware of the value of PR education, both for individuals and for the continuing professionalisation of the PR business.
Tags: education, natalie smith, Public relations, public+relations, richard bailey, stuart bruce
Comments on “Teaching social media on university PR courses”
Leave your comment
Latest links 
Links to interesting information I've spotted recently on the web:
- Grasping the New Communication Nettle
- Social reporting at Cisco08 Public Sector Summit
- Recession proofing the brand called YOU
- Butt Out IT! Facebook “Productivity Loss” Is No Concern of Yours - Brian Prentice — A member of the Gartner Blog Network
- How Rich Is Your Communication In A Conflict?
- Making Gmail Your Gateway to the Web
- Hiscox: the benefits of bravery
- FAQ’s about Twitter Strategy and Public Relations
- The re-branding of Prince Charles
- The Ethics of Ghost-Writing in Social Media
- The World Does Not Need Journalists
- Tabbloid Turns Feeds into a Personal Magazine
- Creating an internal Social Media Forum
- Warning blogger relations mustnt be rushed!
- Councils told: embrace social networks
Latest bookmarks
My most recent bookmarks from del.icio.us:
- 33 Free Tools to Make Your Website Better | FutureNow's GrokDotCom / Marketing Optimization Blog
- MMA study finds increase in mobile marketing receptiveness
- If RSS Is Niche Media, Why Use It?
- New Media Knowledge - Rough Guide to: Social Media and the Law
- UK Kids and Teens Communicate Nonstop
- Understanding and Aligning the Value of Social Media | FutureNow's GrokDotCom / Marketing Optimization Blog
- weaverluke: Twitter.com
- The week that Britain's culture wars broke out | Media | The Observer
- Message in-a-Box
- Welcome to Where I Live | Where I Live
- Utilising Web 2.0 in local government
- MySpace and Facebook Fast Becoming the Leading Mobile Social Networks
- searching for the impact of empowerment report - MORI
- Demos | Publications | State of Trust
- Pew Internet: Teens, Video Games and Civics
Wednesday, August 13th, 2008 at 10:21 am
I welcome and agree with your thoughts, Simon. It’s too easy to teach the tools and miss the big picture - but it’s also hard for new students to relate the big picture to their experience of the world.
I’m still hoping you’ll be able to give a guest lecture up here one day…
Wednesday, August 13th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
I’d be delighted to do a guest lecture - I think I’m heading up north for a conference presentation in the autumn, so will let you know the date to see if we can tie something up.