Maria's Musings

Seton Hall Scavenger Hunt

This week myself and my partner Jess embarked on a scavenger hunt across Seton Hall campus to take a closer look at what it really means to be a Pirate. We discovered what true Pirate pride is by asking students about their favorite spots to eat, study, hangout, and what they are involved in on campus. Seton Hall is known for its diversity, traditions unique to the Hall, and vast array of opportunities. Everybody has a different Seton Hall experience, and we set out to find out what makes Seton Hall a home to so many.

In order to get a well-rounded look at the individuals who make up the Seton Hall community, we set out on an adventure across campus, reaching out to students and faculty from all different walks of life to find out what they love about Seton Hall and why their experience is unique.

At Seton Hall, there’s no lack of pirate pride on campus. Here at SHU we bleed blue and it definitely shows. Our first tweet showcases exactly how we let our school spirit shine.

One of the best perks about South Orange is the myriad of options for eating out in the Village. Downtown we have every type of food, ranging from Chinese to Italian to Mediterranean and more. Students definitely have their fair share of favorites, like the famous Village Trattoria and Tito’s Burritos. However, we found that some students love eating on campus just as much.

As we know, the journalism profession is rapidly changing, and the way people get their news varies from person to person. We took to the streets of our campus to find out how students around New Jersey get their news.

Being so close to New York City while also surrounding some gorgeous nature, there are plenty of scenic spots both on campus and within South Orange. Many students will agree that South Mountain Reservation is a beautiful scenic spot if you need to get away from hectic campus life.

Although most students are aware of the fun traditions and little tidbits that make up Seton Hall, there are still a few little-known facts that are left to find out. Luckily, we found a student who was willing to share a fun fact with us.

Anyone who’s been to the Rock on gameday knows that there are no fans quite like Seton Hall men’s basketball fans. We live for our team, and this year, Pirates are thrilled with the success of the season so far. However, students know we still have a long way to go.

One of the huge benefits of Seton Hall is the abundance of extracurriculars and organizations that students have available to them. There are so many different ways to get involved, and there’s something that appeals to everyone’s interests.

There are so many little tidbits of information that make Seton Hall special. Everyone on campus knows Father John, as he’s practically an icon for the community. He’s always brightening student’s and faculty’s days by greeting every single person as they walk by. But, I bet you didn’t know about this good luck charm.

Going on this scavenger hunt was a great experience for both myself and Jess. We had a great time running around campus getting to know knew faces and hear their thoughts about the place we all call home. The most difficult aspect of this experience was reaching out to new people to get diverse opinions, but it was so rewarding in the end.

It was also awesome to get to see some of information our classmates gathered. Our top five favorite tweets from our classmates were Liam’s tweet about the iconic leprechaun, Liam O’Connell, who spreads good luck at every basketball game, Maddy’s tweet about the awesome organization CHAMP, Catherine’s unknown fact about the alleged “underground tunnels”, hearing about different student’s pirate pride from Kassidy, and Mary’s tweet expressing how great it is to be so close to New York City.

One of the most fun parts of this experience was interacting with my fellow classmates. As you can see above, I got a chance to chat with one of my classmates Morgan on her tweet.

Crowdsourcing, Collaboration, and Communication: A Game Changer in Social Media Journalism/PR

In my last blog post, I addressed how like it or not, social media is invading the journalism and public relations professions, and in order to survive in these industries it is essential for practitioners to adapt to these changes. Now that we know that social media is here to stay, this week I will be talking about some of the positive ways social media has influenced these industries, such as encouraging collaboration and forming more personal relationships with the publics/audience than ever before.

In the world of public relations, connecting with your publics is your bread and butter. Social media has made this exceedingly easy, but there are also some drawbacks. Because connecting with your audience can be done with the press of a button, there is a lot of room for error, and its not uncommon for scandals or crises to unfold. The article How to Turn Your Social Media Crisis into PR Success from Earned Media Rising discusses how one can utilize social media to resolve any scandals. The tips provided in this article mirror the key takeaways I’ve learned from my PR classes here at Seton Hall. The industry consensus is that the most important thing you can do is be open, honest, and authentic with your publics. Everybody makes mistakes, but the way you handle the situation makes all the difference. Most importantly, when sending out an apology, whether via social media or a public statement, it’s imperative to be genuine and address the situation directly. If you skirt around the issue or take a defensive stance, your audience will see right through it. As the article mentioned, “Transparent communication also establishes a sense of trust among internal stakeholders facilitates team-work and can prevent mistakes that may aggravate the situation further”.

Another key element in journalism and public relations is collaboration. With the advancement of social media, it has made it so much easier to communicate with others and use this collaboration to create better content. The article Real-Time Social Media Creative Marketing and PR by Jeremy Harris Lipschultz from the Huffington Post discusses how covering topics with others in real-time can make a huge difference. Something that resonated with me that Lipschultz mentioned in the article is how it is becoming more common for practitioners to engage with their audience in fun and creative ways.

One of my favorite examples of this is the Wendy’s twitter account. I think they do a great job of connecting with their audience in a relatable and entertaining way. They are a prime example of a company that has adapted with the times, and their PR strategy shows it. Wendy’s was one of the first brands to hop on this trend, but now other fast-food restaurants are joining the band wagon. Kavya Ravi discussed on her blog unmetric.com just how Wendy’s revolutionized using social media as a PR tactic within the post 6 Ways You Can Make Your Social Media More Like Wendy’s stating, “There seems to be no limit to their sass, as they continue winning on social media. In what has been hailed as a potential social media game-changer, Wendy’s social media snark became the talk of the town and also lead to its meteoric rise in 2017”. This just goes to show that possibilities are endless when using social media and being creative with PR strategies, and taking a risk can pay off big time.

Social Media Evolution: Changes in Journalism and Public Relations

The prevalence of social media in our everyday lives is a phenomenon that has been growing over the past decade. New advancements come out every day, and more and more these technologies have become integrated into our existence. Of course, there are both positives and negatives to social media, but nevertheless it cannot be disputed that social media has had a huge impact on society.

Not only has social media effected society at large, but it has also had some serious implications on the journalism and public relations fields. As discussed in the article from Forbes The Future of Public Relations: Three Forks in the Road by Robert Wynne, before social media became so prevalent, what is called “traditional PR” was the bread and butter of the industry. Now, as social media gains favor as one of the best avenues to spread information, traditional outlets (such as print publications) are going out of style in the field. Although some seasoned PR professionals are worried about what this means for the industry, I don’t believe these changes are something to be feared, rather we just need to adapt to them. Social media platforms serve as a huge advantage to the PR field. Never before has it been so easy and effective to spread key messages to publics. Fear of change is understandable, but I believe if harnessed correctly, the power of social media can improve the PR field.

Although I understood the point Wynne was making regarding how social media has changed the PR field, I was slightly insulted and disagreed heavily with one of the comments he made. He states, “Who wants to live in a world where young hipsters in porkpie hats sipping vanilla spice low-fat lattes at coffee shops in Brooklyn, Austin, or West Hollywood spend all day blogging on their iPhones about their thoughts on politics, the economy and culture set the media agenda for the rest of us?”.

Aside from blatantly stereotyping the younger generations, in my opinion, this line of thinking is flawed and counterproductive to the goals of public relations. In order to succeed in this industry, you need to be aware and up to date with trends, societal changes, and the viewpoints of your publics. Like it or not, those “hipsters” are setting trends, and they are using social media to do so. Instead of working so hard to swim against the current, I think the more the industry leans into utilizing social media and recognizing the benefits it has, the more successful the industry will become.

Although social media has affected the journalism industry in similar ways, I found that the article from Medium, Last Call: The End of the Printed Newspaper by Clay Shirky was much more accepting of utilizing social media and adapting to these changes. Of course, there is an understandable fear for those that work in print news, because as social media becomes more prevalent these mediums are going extinct, which inevitably leads to job loss. I would venture to say that circumstances are worse in the journalism field than the PR field, as it is much easier for PR professionals to adapt to using social media, whereas print newspapers risk going out of business completely. What I appreciated about this article is that unlike the previous one, instead of lamenting and resisting these changes, Shirky seems to accept them for what they are, and actually provides helpful and constructive advice for those in the print news industry on how to adapt to these changes and maintain their livelihood in an industry that is rapidly changing. Throughout the article, Shirky provides multiple different pieces of advice on how individuals can take matters into their own hands and improve their skill sets to fit into this new social media influenced landscape.

Shirky’s take on the influence of social media on to the journalism and PR fields aligned a lot more with my own personal views on the situation. In every industry, change is inevitable, and social media just happens to be a part of this change. In life or in your career, you can chose to either adapt to change or let it consume you, but I think it’s better to keep learning and find new ways to utilize the mediums that are available to us.

For as many people that complain about social media, there are just as many professionals in the industry who hail it for the positive changes it has created. For example, the article 5 Ways Social Media Has Changed Public Relations from 5W Public Relations goes into detail stating how social media has changed the PR field for the better.

Overall, despite the uncertainty I am looking forward to the future of journalism and public relations. With increased use of social media in these fields, there is unlimited potential for how we can improve these fields and come up with new, creative ideas. As a budding PR professional, I am excited to break into the field and use social media to my advantage.

https://www.5wpr.com/new/social-media-public-relations/

https://medium.com/@cshirky/last-call-c682f6471c70

https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwynne/2014/12/09/the-future-of-public-relations-three-forks-in-the-road/#8d2c803544ef