Blog Group 1: Blog Post 3-Not Every Thought Needs to be Shared

           It's 2014 and if you are not active on some social media platform you might as well not exist. Social media is a major part of our everyday lives. It's how we share news, updates about our lives, and connect with strangers who become friends. One of the most overused sayings in today’s lexicon is “The Internet is forever.” However, no matter how cliché and overused it is, the fact remains, it very true. Once information is out on the Internet, there it remains forever. FOREVER. Even after the original content has been deleted chances are it was shared, retweeted, or blogged about a hundred times over. Dean Obeidallah (2013) of CNN puts it succinctly “Sure, there's a delete button on Twitter, but once it's out there, simply put: You're screwed.

            Public relations executive, Justine Sacco, is one recent example of not thinking before sharing. On December 20, 2013 just before boarding an international flight to South Africa, Sacco sent out the tweet below:

Caption: Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get AIDS. Just kidding. I’m white!

            Twitter was not impressed. 
            The tweet was retweeted thousands of times and while Sacco was in flight, the hashtag #HasJustineLandedYet became a trending topic. Though Sacco subsequently deleted the tweet along with her Twitter account, was fired from her position with IAC, and apologized, the damage was done. The first results for “Justine Sacco,” when typed into Google, brings up the Twitter debacle. As a public relations executive, you would think Sacco would know better. Social media has the power to challenge and transform. It also has the power to destroy a career in less than 140 characters. We all have a responsibility to not use social media for harm. Whether we are professional communicators or just regular people it is imperative that we think before we tweet.

References:

Dimitrova, K. (2013, December 22). Justine Sacco, fired after tweet on AIDS in Africa, issues 

                apology - ABC News. Retrieved September 27, 2014, from http://abcnews.go.com 

                 /International/justine-sacco-fired-tweet-aids-africa-issues-apology/story?id=21301833
 

Google Images.Retrieved from http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2013/12
               /22/1387732606928/Justine-Sacco-008.jpg

Obeidallah, D. (2013, December 22). Justine Sacco case shows how Twitter can kill your career - 

               CNN.com. Retrieved September 28, 2014, from http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/05/opinion

               /obeidallah-tweet-pitfalls/
 

Twitter. (2013, December). Twitter / Search - #HasJustineLandedYet. Retrieved from 

             https://twitter.com/search?q=%23HasJustineLandedYet&src=hash

 

Blog Group 1: Blog Post 2-Let's Go

Oh, smartphone. How I adore you...and have an unhealthy obsession with you. Thankfully, I am not alone in my devotion to my smartphone. With 70% of mobile phone users in the United States owning a smartphone (comScore, 2014) and 42% owning a tablet (Pew Research, 2014) mobile technology is quickly becoming the preferred method for communicating both personally and professionally.

 

            Mobility allows us to transmit and received information anytime of the day from anywhere in the world. Our cumbersome desktops and laptops have been traded in for smaller and sleeker designs. The communications professional has the freedom to tweet from her Android phone or IPhone, update Facebook from her Galaxy Tablet, or create a new blog entry while sitting at her laptop from the comfort of her couch. By 2016, 63 million Americans will be working in a virtual or flexible role in the workforce (O’Brien, 2014). This will be due in large part to the creation of mobile technology. While mobile technology allows for more flexibility in the workforce, it does not mean we can forgo discipline and strategy (Calhoun, 2013) in the workplace.

Mobile Communications

           We are no longer tethered to a specific location in ordered to conduct our daily professional or personal lives. When we have a crisis, whether its as detrimental as the Boston Marathon bombing of  2013 Boston Marathon or as common as someone unable to come into work that day due to an emergency, mobile technology allows us to share information where ever we are. Mobile technology has disrupted the way we communicate and that is a good thing.

References:

Calhoun, A. (2013, October 22). Keeping up with mobile: A game-changing strategy. 
Retrieved September 28, 2014, from http://www.prsa.org/intelligence/thestrategist/articles  
/view/10396/1084/keeping_up_with_mobile_a_game_changing_strategy#.VCjIARawTrs
 
CNN Library. (2014, September 26). Boston marathon terror attack fast facts - CNN.com.     Retrieved September 28, 2014, from http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/03/us/boston-marathon-terror-attack-fast-facts/

ComScore. (2014, July 3). comScore reports May 2014 U.S. smartphone subscriber market share - 
comScore, Inc. Retrieved September 26, 2014, from https://www.comscore.com/Insights
/Market-Rankings/comScore-Reports-May-2014-U.S.-Smartphone-Subscriber-Market-Share 

Google Images. [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://www.divacreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Go-Mobile-500x301.jpg

Metzger, M. (2009, May 5). MOCOM 2020 - The future of mobile media and communication [Video 
file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FScddkTMlTc

O'Brien, J. (2015, August 25). How to get your workforce ready for the next five years. 
Retrieved September 27, 2014, from http://mashable.com/2014/08/25/workforce-in-5-years/
 
Pew Research Internet Project. (2014, January). Mobile technology fact sheet | Pew Research    Center's Internet & American Life Project. Retrieved September 26, 2014, from 
http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheets/mobile-technology-fact-sheet/