Welcome back to class everyone. I know it's the weekend so please put away your books and pencils, and take out your Smartphones (BlackBerry, iPhone etc.), your notebook computers, laptops, and your tablet PCs and sign in to facebook!
As young and upcoming Public Relations professionals we need to realize the potential of such a powerful social networking tool. Before I get into how we can use facebook to our advantage as PR professionals, let us look at a brief history of the wonder we call facebook.
The History
Okay, no complaints please. I know most persons find History boring, but without knowledge of our history we are prone to repeating the mistakes of the past. Do not worry, I’ll be brief!
Basically what happened was that Mark Zukerberg, while a sophomore at Harvard, came up with an idea to use juxtaposing photos of his college-mates and allow others to rate who was hotter. He did this by hacking into the school's computer system to retrieve pictures. The site was called facemash. After being banded by the University he transformed the idea into a social study tool where his classmates could share their notes online. By the following semester the idea transformed once again as the system was opened up to persons from other Ivy League colleges such as Yale and the name was changed to thefacebook.com. With a little help, that idea was expanded, and by September 26, 2006 the newly named facebook.com was opened up to everyone ages 13 and older with a valid email address. That was the really condensed version so for those of you interested in knowing the full story, here are a few interesting links:
Facebook and Public Relations
Now on to business! Do you remember our first lesson, where I defined Public Relations? Let me refresh your memory a bit:
Personal definition: Public Relations
The process through which mutually favourable relationships are maintained between an organisation and its publics (those persons the organisation caters to).
Therefore, facebook is an important tool for building those mutually favourable relationships between an organisation and its publics. In the world of social media, facebook is important for positioning and building a particular brand image in the minds of an organisation's publics. It is very effective in keeping customers informed through status updates, events calendar, notes section, advertisements and the posting of videos. Most importantly, it provides an avenue through which instant and constant feedback can be given to the organisation from its publics and vice versa. I could write on and on about how to use facebook effectively in the realm of public relations, but why write when I found the perfect slideshow to do the job for me? Take a look!
Facebook for Public Relations - PR Daily Presentation
Slideshow taken from: http://www.slideshare.net/ScottMeis/facebook-for-public-relations-pr-daily-presentation
So now you are ready to conquer the facebook public relations landscape! Please remember to ask questions on whatever you need clarification on. In our next lesson we will discuss the magic of twitter.com. That's all for today guys, until next time, school's out and learning's in!
"It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see." -Henry David Thoreau
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