A Life without blogging…

I like how this blog relates quitting blogging to quitting smoking. I guess I never thought of blogging as something you could be addicted to. People are actually addicted to blogging, they go through withdrawals if they don’t blog! I am definitely not one of them. Up until a month ago I did not blog at all. Honestly, the only reason I blog as much as I do is because I have to if I would like to graduate. Honestly, I can not guarantee that I will continue to blog when I finish this class. I’m sure I will when I actually go out into the PR world, but before then, I feel like my opinion really is not all that important. I have so much to learn and really do not have any credibility what so ever in the PR world. I recently blogged about Wikipedia and later learned that the founder went to Auburn, and i called Wikipedia sketchy. I still think it is sketchy, but I really don’t want to offend someone who could possibly hire me or influence my career some day.

I am so conflicted about blogging. On one hand, I don’t really like it. Like Sara, I do it because I have to. I’m not really confident in my opinions and it is often a stretch for me to think of something relevant to say because I am still new at this. On the other hand, I realize the value of blogging for things like consumer relations and finding out what people are saying about your organization. I certainly believe that blogging is not for everyone. While I enjoy reading the thoughts of industry giants like Phil Gomes, I am still not sure if blogging is for me. Sometimes it’s still hard for me to get past my previous perception of blogging as just a place for kids to release some teen angst–call me old-fashioned. You may convert me yet, Robert. The semester isn’t over.

My mom would always respond to my uncertainty about unique foods with “You’ll never know if you like it until you try.” Listening to the wisdom of my mother and applying that to blogging, I am giving this a shot. Not just because it’s for Robert’s class, but I’m determined to understand what the hype is all about. For example, today we learned about Twitter. It’s a totally new concept to me. Although I am not entirely sure what it’s all about, I am going to give that a shot, too.

Is it something that must grow on you? Or do those who love it find themselves enjoying it from day one? Shouldn’t I do it whether or not I completely understand it for the sake of public relations and the implications it has on this industry?

Blogging was such a foreign concept to me until I started this Style and Design class. I never really understood why people did it, or what the buzz was all about. It didn’t make sense to me at all. I am still a bit confused by how it creates so much interest among random groups of people, but I am slowly coming to grips with the fact that it is here to stay. Robert introduced our class to Twitter today. I was not sure what to think at first, but the more he talked about it, the more I began to understand that social media has only started to grow. It truly is the new frontier in public relations, marketing, and anything else that serves to work with the public. I don’t believe that it will ever take the place of traditional public relations concepts like good writing and verbal skills, but I do think that it will be a helpful supplement.

I was definitely not excited about the idea of blogging each week for a class. However, after doing for a while, I can definitely see how someone could really get into it and develop an “addiction.” I’ve also learned how it could be very useful in looking at public opinion on certain issues. You really can get instant feedback from a wide variety of people, which is something that you couldn’t put a price on in our field. I think that like anything else that’s relatively new, people are going to be a little skeptical at first. However, I think that in the not to distant future, blogging will become an even bigger part of the public relations industry than it already is (if that’s possible). So, I’m excited about the prospect of learning more about it and offering my humble opinion on subjects that are probably far beyond my grasp. I think it’s going to be pretty fun.

I doubt that I will ever consider myself a blogging “addict.” As of now, I blog because it is a class requirement. I agree with your opinion of blogging because you want to, not because we feel we must. Though it is a class requirement I have made an effort not to blog just to blog. I believe that all of the required blogging is useful because it is forcing me to create opinions and publish my own thoughts. I don’t want people to read what I have to say and be bored with it. I tend to put a lot of thought into what I am putting out there because I don’t want to be responsible for wasting people’s time, I don’t want to contribute to the amount of clutter that already exists online.

At first I started blogging because it was a weekly requirement, but now I actually have begun to enjoy it. Blogging allows me to express my ideas and opinions with individuals located around the world and I know it is going to prove to be very beneficial to me in my future. Social networking websites allow you to create connections you would never have had the opportunity to establish if it wasn’t for online communication. After I graduate in May, I will continue to blog. In order to be a successful PR practitioner you have to keep up with the pace of society sets to move at and blogging is one major way to accomplish this goal.

I agree! You should blog because you want to. I don’t think people or organizations should ever feel forced to blog. You should blog when you want to or when you have something important to blog about. It should never be something you feel you must do. On the other hand blogs can be very beneficial for your organization these days. It is a good way to put opinions and ideas out there. If you are writing about something you are passionate about, it should never feel like a chore.

In David Meerman Scott’s book, The New Rules of Marketing and PR he shows the importance of finding positive reasons to get your organizations name and actions out to the public as often as possible. Blogging is a great way to do this. Blogging started out as something I had to do for class, but now that I see the positive effects it is having on organizations who utilize it, I want to blog.

I like to blog about things I find interesting. I used to always try to relate it to PR (which I still mainly do). But recently, I’ve been blogging about stuff I actually care about that generally relates back to PR or marketing in some aspect-not that I don’t care about PR…the topics just aren’t as “blah” as they used to be. Sometimes I find myself ranting and raving on my blog if I really feel passionate about something. Not that I’m saying ranting and raving is good, but I just think it is great when I actually look forward to writing my blog. Hopefully I’ll continue after graduation on topics I love to write about.

I agree with you that blogging should be a task you enjoy instead of someting feel you MUST do. Lately, I’ve been blogging about topics that interest me, instead of forcing myself to discuss an issue that I have no interest in.

Of course, I generally try to relate different life topics to PR, but sometimes it’s good to just let loose and say how you feel without relating it to anything.