Hi all,
It's me again! I finished my placement last semester and am currently putting together material for my report. I just would love to say that I have had a blast reading everyones' posts - How exciting! Especially those of you guys on the Asian campuses and in Mauritius - there are such amazing opportunities out there to grab because you're in a larger marker and closer to where it all happens.
Anyhow to the point of this blog post... After I posted my last post, I recieved an email the next day from the lady I did work experience with. She had been emailed by the overarching body that ran the campaign I did work experience for. Basically they run from NSW and I'd only ever spoken to the Director for PR/Publicity once. He had forwarded my post from this blog to the lady I did work experience with in Perth. With the aid of technology and daily media monitors, the internet had found the name of the government overarching body that ran the campaign I worked for in this blog and recorded it - I found it slightly scary and astounded that they had discovered my post within 24 hours!
Larger companies monitor their brand's reputation and opinions through monitoring chatrooms, blogs and wesites that mention their names - something to keep in mind when writing about the company you are doing your placement for! I was very happy with my placement so I had reported a positive opinion so it was fine.
I actually remember learning about media and internet monitoring with Karen and Katharina in a PR unit. I thought it definately happened but was shocked when it happened to me :)
Thought I'd share this little story with you - for those of you who know me would know that computers and I aren't the best of friends so would find this experience quite amusing.
Happy placements!
Valentina
2 comments:
Hi Val!
It's Claire!
Thanks so much for the content in your post. I have actually been thinking about this sort of thing happening.
Some of the posts have surprised me with the abundance of information given about certain organisations. No doubt some of the content isn't confidential but I do question some things.
I can only imagine how easy it is for a media monitoring company to pick up a mention in an ordinary post like these, pass it back on to the organisation in mention and all of a sudden you have a situation where someone has (most likely unintentionally) released confidential information for all to see. It's pretty scary really!
Just the other day, and as part of my placement, I attended a PR team meeting on media relations where we discussed new media, particularly online media. iGoogle for example, is a new means of online media monitoring that can be done in-house. It uses key words and/or phrases to trace online content about the organisation in mention. So it's getting easier and easier to track coverage of your organisation in most medias. A great thing, but also to keep in mind for work experience students like us!
As an example, I have a blog to post however I won't post it without running it by the Director first. He is happy for me to mention most company names and certain client names and details etc, however I'd like to make sure that the owner of the business approves what I post first. The last thing I want to do is put someone's business in jeopardy, or even to have my post brought up in conversation. As far as I see it, these posts should not raise concern for any business owner, so I'm going to take the safe option.
I hope your post encourages others to get permission before they disclose information that they are uncertain about. Even if that information pertains to employees.
Thanks again for your post. You've only instilled in my mind the necessity for employer confidentiality (and of course positive comment :P).
All the best compiling your report!
Claire
What a fantastic reminder for everyone that whatever you are posting on the world wide web will eventually be picked up...it might happen instantly, or it might take a while - however, often it happens when you don't expect it (for example when a potential employer picks up a post riddled with grammatical mistakes :-)).
As PR professionals you would be expected to monitor ALL media - at the end of the day you want to know what your stakeholders are saying about you (no matter if positive or negative - in fact, blogs, twitter and other social media provide you with a great opportunity to engage with disgruntled or disappointed stakeholders). It's not uncommon that you pick up an inappropriate post by an employee - but this way you might be able to limit any potential damage by being proactive, rather than finding out about an incident via the media (remember the guy taking a bath in the Burger King sink?: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRFwcN_EOSU)
Claire, you made a fantastic point: if in doubt - and this would be particularly relevant for people working in a corporate and/or tightly controlled environment, run your posts past your supervisor.
HOWEVER, blog enthusiasts would argue that the posts' authenticity would consequently be affected. At the end of a day it's a good way to ensure you are not overstepping any marks and respect not only your host organisations’' but also any partner's or client's confidentiality. In the industry it is not uncommon that corporate posts get approved before they go live (which again ultimately limits spontaneity).
For Google web monitoring check out Google Alerts: http://www.google.com/alerts).
Katharina
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