Final Press Release

January 27, 2010
For immediate release

Contact information:
Preston Parker, President
Social Media Club of Cache Valley
851 N. Main. ST., Logan UT 84321
661-772-7537

The Social Media Club of Cache Valley

New Social media club in Logan

Logan, Utah -- The Social Media Club of Cache Valley is a new club here in Logan dedicated to understanding and learning more about social media and its benefits. The club is designed so that individuals involved in social media may meet and learn together.

“Between forty and sixty members show up on a regular basis and we are always looking for more people to come and share their thoughts about social media,” said Club President Preston Parker.

The Cache Valley club is a chapter of the national organization headquartered in San Francisco, Calif. The club is dedicated to understanding the benefits of social media. The goals of the club are to expand media literacy, share lessons learned among practitioners, encourage adoption of industry standards and promote ethical practices through discussion and action. Seven men founded the Cache Valley chapter which began in August 2009 with Parker appointed as president. The Salt Lake City chapter which began in January 2009 became the catalyst for the new Cache Valley club. The club wants to become a non-profit organization. The long term goal of the club is to put on a social media conference. The club’s website is http://www.smccv.com/.

The club meets on the second Tuesday of every month at Borders from 6:30-8:30pm. The meetings are open to anyone who is interested in social media.
For more information, please contact public relations director Tyler Newbold at 801-637-8818 or email at ty.newbo@aggiemail.usu.edu.

-End-

Press Release draft

January 27, 2010

For immediate release

Contact information:
Preston Parker, President
Social Media Club of Cache Valley
851 N. Main. ST., Logan UT 84321
661-772-7537

The Social Media Club of Cache Valley
New Social media club in Logan

Logan, Utah -- The Social Media Club of Cache Valley is a new club here in Logan dedicated to understanding and learning more about social media and its benefits. The club is designed so that individuals involved in social media may meet and learn together.

“Between forty and sixty members show up on a regular basis and we are always looking for more people to come and share their thoughts about social media,” said Club President Preston Parker.

United's PR struggles

Dave Carroll and United Airlines
Tyler Newbold

Dave Carroll became famous with his ‘United Breaks guitars’ youtube video. Carroll, a musician from Canada had his guitar broken by United Airlines workers and United has felt the pain from it. Carroll who posted a youtube video about how his $3500 Taylor Guitar was broken and has cost the company an estimated $180 million.
Dave Carroll did the right thing by trying to get compensation for his broken guitar. They had been careless with a very expensive guitar the situation needs to be addressed. Dave tried numerous times with different parts of United company to receive compensation with no success. Finally, a United worker named Ms. Irlweg told Carroll that they would not be responsible for the matter and that it would be the last email on the subject. Carroll calmly told the woman that he was going to put three videos on youtube about his experience with United. Carroll could not of imagined how well his videos would do. They have spread like wildfire on youtube and all throughout the social media websites. With so many people talking about the issue it has hurt the image of United and has cost them dearly. Carroll clearly did the correct thing by trying to get compensation for his broken guitar. Not getting anything from them has turned out to be a blessing in disguise as Carroll’s videos have boosted his popularity and has provided him with more money than he ever wanted from United.
It would have been a lot better for United to pay Carroll for his damaged guitar and been done with it. With so much information out there and social media everywhere, PR workers must be smart and understand that nothing will get unnoticed. If a company does something wrong it needs to take care of it quickly or else it could turn out as bad for them as it did for United. This example also shows us how fast information on social media can travel. It is hard to predict but when something goes BIG on a social media site then it really goes BIG.
United clearly did the wrong thing by not helping Dave Carroll and thinking that his story would just pass by and not affect them much. They paid the price for that mistake and many companies can learn from United by keeping customer service at the top of their priority list. Once United realized they were losing lots of money they offered to pay Carroll. Carroll declined the money and asked them to give it to a charity. United donated $3000 to the Thelonius Monk Institute of Jazz for music education for kids which is something United had to do. The damage had already been done and United is desperately trying to improve its image.
With so many social media outlets it is important for companies to understand how to react to customers and treat them in a way that the social media can benefit them. Social media can be a benefit to companies that use them properly and communicate to their publics through them. Its important to understand that everyone has a say through social media and that mistreating one person can turn into a PR nightmare if not handled in the proper way. Companies need to embrace the social media and figure out how they can best use them to their advantage.

Public Relations

1507 North 540 West Apt#104
Logan, Utah 84341
January 14, 2010

Dear Jason Newbold,

Public Relations is a very neat industry in which a lot is involved. In my personal definition it is the practice of communicating to the public to help create a positive image of a company, person or an idea. I love the idea of working in PR because you are able to be involved with the public in developing an image the public will like and respect. The PRSA official statement from its website says that Public Relations “helps an organization and its publics adapt mutually to each other.” I would love to work for a sports equipment company like Nike or for a university athletic department. Working in PR for and athletic department would be fun because I would be able to send press releases and work with the media to get recognition to the athletic programs. I would be able to be creative in thinking of ways to relate to the public of the positive image of the athletic programs of the university I would work for.

Public Relations workers are important during crisis management of a company, organization or even a person. For example, Public relations specialists for a celebrity like Micheal Vick must uncover ideas that will help him improve his image after being released from prison after he had served his sentence for federal dog fighting charges.

We are all human beings and whether we know it or not we have perceptions of how we think of things. Public Relations specialists attempt to manage your and my perceptions of things so they can get us to act in a way that they would like. PR specialists working for Micheal Vick might develop messages so that more companies will see him as a marketable person even though he has had a troubled past. I hope this letter helps you understand a little more about what Public Relations is and how it is a factor in our perceptions of organizations and people.
Sincerely,

Tyler Newbold