Saying good bye is funny thing, it's the end of something and the promise of new adventures. PR graduates understand that feeling, a mixture of sadness and excitement when you walk onto that stage and collect your diploma or degree. I said good bye to CPUT a few months ago but did not want to make an official “adios” on the blog until I handed it over to someone as passionate about PR Chatbox I as am.
I am delighted to hand the blog over to Deirdre Porthen, PR lecturer and soon-to-be social media guru, and her assistant for 2010, Graye Morkel. I am excited to watch as they build this blog as resource for PR students, staff and alumni.
When I started PR Chatbox I was a B Tech PR student working as an assistant to Prof. Johann van der Merwe with an interest in social media. I heard student complaints and witnessed the pressures that lecturers face as day-to-day admin form mountains on their desks, but what bothered me the most that there was the lack of student pride in the department. PR students and graduates do the one thing we would never do to our clients; we badmouth our course and department. Ironically we all carry the qualification, name of the department and institution on our CVs so instead of complaining we should building the department and profession. I believe that as PR students and professionals we need to ‘do PR for PR.'
Showing posts with label Social Media. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Social Media. Show all posts
October 10, 2009
February 3, 2009
Patience in a Virtue…
… And virtue is a grace. Thank you to all the PR students for having patience with the timetables, which are currently being updated. I have been a student and know it can be frustrating it can be to get a class at the time wrong or come in too early. The PR department is working on the timetables to ensure that you have class in venues that accommodate the class numbers and ensure no clashes.
If you happen to come in to university too early here are some very productive ways to keep yourself busy:
Visit the Library
Get acquainted with the PR journals and books in the library, you are going to need these! I have never found such a good selection of PR and marketing books in any other public library (or even at local bookshops) so take advantage of these resources while you are able to.
Surf the Net
Go online and look for PR related websites and blogs and find out what is happening in the PR industry, locally and globally. The PR/Communications industry as moving fast and furiously as communication technology is. The more you know the better, not only for class discussion and assignments, but for the sake of your successful career in PR.
Visit our Blogroll and follow PR Chatbox on Twitter to find out what we are following, reading and researching.
Sportingly Good
Visit the Multipurpose Hall, ask for the Sports Department (it is on the second level) and find out about sport teams and activities you could join. Sport is good for your body, great for your social life and will help you keep the first year pounds at bay!
If you happen to come in to university too early here are some very productive ways to keep yourself busy:
Visit the Library
Get acquainted with the PR journals and books in the library, you are going to need these! I have never found such a good selection of PR and marketing books in any other public library (or even at local bookshops) so take advantage of these resources while you are able to.
Surf the Net
Go online and look for PR related websites and blogs and find out what is happening in the PR industry, locally and globally. The PR/Communications industry as moving fast and furiously as communication technology is. The more you know the better, not only for class discussion and assignments, but for the sake of your successful career in PR.
Visit our Blogroll and follow PR Chatbox on Twitter to find out what we are following, reading and researching.
Sportingly Good
Visit the Multipurpose Hall, ask for the Sports Department (it is on the second level) and find out about sport teams and activities you could join. Sport is good for your body, great for your social life and will help you keep the first year pounds at bay!
November 10, 2008
Unravelling The Grid
By Saadiyah Marks, 2nd year PR student
On Saturday, October 18, students and guests at the CPUT annual media conference were introduced to a new mobile social network service called ‘The Grid’. Vincent Maher, portfolio manager for social media at Vodacom, introduced the innovative service and demonstrated how you could use The Grid to stay connected with friends.
The Grid (Groups Radar Identity Dropzone) is, is similar to ever-popular mobile social network, MXIT but has location based advantages such as viewing on an actual map exactly where you are and what your friends found interested at that particular place. This service allows your cell phone to be located by triangulating its position between cell phone towers. It has been dubbed “Google Earth meets Mxit” and means that you could be at a party and send a picture, video, text or sound clipping to a contact and they would see your exact location as well as if the party is worth attending or not.
Video clips, photographs and comments you drop on The Grid is called ‘blips’ would be made available to your contacts to view. The Grid is that the usage is free although network data costs as charged by your service provider therefore you could minimise costs by making sure the file size of your data is small. The creators of The Grid has really upped the standard of social networking allowing users to stay connected with their friends by showing each other where they are and what they doing.
The Grid was initially launched in South Africa last year by invitation only through the country’s leading mobile network, Vodacom. The reason for the creation of The Grid is to buy into a share of the Mxit market, which as we know, is a huge population. Vodacom has incorporated social networking, differentiating The Grid from Mxit. The service is continuously improving as you can see on The Grid Blog and growing as it reaches more and more of its target market. By using the built-in radar function the user is able to find the content they are looking for as well as forward it to their friends, comment on it or rate it. In the pipeline for Vodacom and The Grid is an international launch so before we know it we would know more about the hotspots in other countries than in our very own.
The good news for public relations and marketing professionals is that The Grid is allowing small businesses the opportunity to advertise through the social network. The Grid allows people to share their experiences and stories, a perfect medium for creating an brand awareness.
For more information about visit http://www.thegrid.co.za/, The Grid on Facebook, The Grid Blog, or watch The Grid video on YouTube
To register for The Grid simply SMS “grid” to 33313 (Please not The Grid currently available to SA mobile phone users only)
On Saturday, October 18, students and guests at the CPUT annual media conference were introduced to a new mobile social network service called ‘The Grid’. Vincent Maher, portfolio manager for social media at Vodacom, introduced the innovative service and demonstrated how you could use The Grid to stay connected with friends.
The Grid (Groups Radar Identity Dropzone) is, is similar to ever-popular mobile social network, MXIT but has location based advantages such as viewing on an actual map exactly where you are and what your friends found interested at that particular place. This service allows your cell phone to be located by triangulating its position between cell phone towers. It has been dubbed “Google Earth meets Mxit” and means that you could be at a party and send a picture, video, text or sound clipping to a contact and they would see your exact location as well as if the party is worth attending or not.
Video clips, photographs and comments you drop on The Grid is called ‘blips’ would be made available to your contacts to view. The Grid is that the usage is free although network data costs as charged by your service provider therefore you could minimise costs by making sure the file size of your data is small. The creators of The Grid has really upped the standard of social networking allowing users to stay connected with their friends by showing each other where they are and what they doing.
The Grid was initially launched in South Africa last year by invitation only through the country’s leading mobile network, Vodacom. The reason for the creation of The Grid is to buy into a share of the Mxit market, which as we know, is a huge population. Vodacom has incorporated social networking, differentiating The Grid from Mxit. The service is continuously improving as you can see on The Grid Blog and growing as it reaches more and more of its target market. By using the built-in radar function the user is able to find the content they are looking for as well as forward it to their friends, comment on it or rate it. In the pipeline for Vodacom and The Grid is an international launch so before we know it we would know more about the hotspots in other countries than in our very own.
The good news for public relations and marketing professionals is that The Grid is allowing small businesses the opportunity to advertise through the social network. The Grid allows people to share their experiences and stories, a perfect medium for creating an brand awareness.
For more information about visit http://www.thegrid.co.za/, The Grid on Facebook, The Grid Blog, or watch The Grid video on YouTube
To register for The Grid simply SMS “grid” to 33313 (Please not The Grid currently available to SA mobile phone users only)
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