Corporate Responsibility

“In almost any gift-giving situation, there is some expectation of return, whether is it a tax deduction, a named building, or an enhanced reputation. That’s why anonymous gift giving is so rare. Giving always occurs within a social context that makes a gift reciprocal in nature. Perhaps corporations that give with some expectation of return are only being more strategic and explicit than predecessors who gave with equal expectations but said less about it - or who gave without planning. For a gift to be genuinely altruistic in nature, that is, for it to demonstrate other-centered love, it must have benefit to the recipient as its primary motive and purpose, but not necessarily its only motivation or purpose. Therefore, strategic or “smart” giving may be regarded as ethical.”

from: Media Ethics: Cases and Moral Reasoning. Christians, Clifford. 2001.

I read over this quote a dozen times and each time I finished reading I felt something different. Disgusted, understanding, confused, angry, annoyed, all of the above.

However it wasn’t until I was walking down Main Street, where stores have already begun decorating for the holiday season and the surrounding trees are lit up I began to feel hopeful. I started to realize that even though companies may benefit from giving, I’m hopeful that, as humans, their primary motivation is to help the recipient.

When I began researching what kind of gifts companies give it only furthered my hope for humanity in the business world.

Giving Companies:

Home Depot- Home Depot donates materials from their stores to Habitat for Humanity to help build homes, employees even volunteer to help with the process.

Below is a video by Habitat for Humanity where Glen Bailey describes the impact of corporate giving:

Exxon/Mobil: Exxon donates large amounts of resources to help protect tigers, their company logo, and their environment.

Coca Cola Company: Coca Cola partners with the World Wildlife Fund to help support polar bears by taking action to reduce human impact on global climate change.

Now, I know that these companies give strategically. Meaning, they expect some return for their donations, whether it’s positive recognition or a tax deduction. However, I have faith that their initial reasoning for giving is to better the recipient and the environment around them.

Strategic giving might sound a bit negative and manipulative, but when you take some time to look at the cause there’s no way the company heads are only in it for their benefit.

Here are some websites that write a little more on the benefits of company philanthropy:

PR Blog
Overtone Communication

Philanthropy as Public Relations:A Critical Perspective on Cause Marketing

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Katie Keane

Orthrus in the 21st Century

The Internet has changed everything. The way people communicate, receive their news, and even how they publish their works. With many new ideas being uploaded daily onto the web, copyright laws become pretty blurred.

Thankfully there is a nonprofit corporation called Creative Commons that is

Dedicated to making it easier for people to share and build upon the works of others, consistent with the rules of copyright. Creative commons provides free licenses to mark creative work with freedom that the creator wants it to carry, so others can share, remix, use commercially, or any combination thereof.

For PR practitioners there are several advantages to using creative commons license such as:

1. A Promotional Tool

Allowing the work of the company or client to spread quickly throughout the Internet.

Adam Singer wrote “ Creative Commons is smart as it actively encourages sharing with permission and attribution.”

2. A Collaboration tool
I believe the ole saying goes, “Two heads are better than one” creative common licenses allows many more doors to open up to businesses, artists, and other publics all over the world.

In public relations, collaboration is an extremely important tool to understand what a company wants compared to what its public needs. The use of creative common license could be exceptionally helpful in helping both sides.

Jonathan Coulton said, “With creative commons, the act of creation becomes not the end, but the beginning of a creative process that links complete strangers together in collaboration.”

3. A Beneficial tool

Creative Common licenses make it easy and fast for others to find works they might need for research or other projects. To be a good resource towards a public is good for businesses last time I checked.

Molly Kleinman a Copyright Specialist at University of Michigan Library wrote on the Creative Commons site:

“I love Creative Commons because it provides an easy answer to so many difficult questions. So many educators are confused about copyright law and terrified of using copyrighted material because they fear they might be sued for infringement, and it limits what they teach and how they teach it. Now there is a vibrant pool of CC-licensed material to draw from and build on, and it enriches the educational experience for everyone.”

The internet is changing how a lot of people work nowadays, but as the above examples show that doesn’t necessarily have to be a negative thing.

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Katie Keane

how to add a page to your blogger

hey guys heres a step by step process hopefully this will make a little bit more sense: click on the pictures to make them bigger

step 1: create a new post just like you would any entry
-before posting click POST OPTIONS and click on Dont Allow, hide existing
-also change the date of your post to a date previous to your very first post, to make it easy just change the date to 2008 if you want

step 2: return your blogs dashboard and click on LAYOUT

from here click EDIT HTML
Under EDIT TEMPLATE check the box next to EXPAND WIDGET TEMPLATES

to quickly find hit control F or apple F and search for it

once you find it TYPE , dont PASTE BEFORE it

and AFTER it

if you just copy and paste it youll receive and error message!

SAVE!

step 3: click on the SETTINGS tab, click on BASIC

place the following code in your DESCRIPTION box Static Page

you can name the page anything you want, just change STATICPAGE to the name of your choice...like mediakit, etc

you should get something like this as your final look:


i hope this helps!

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katie keane

Time to get 'Linked In'

With nearly hundreds of different online social media tools to choose from it is important for PR practitioners to choose applications that will most benefit their company or organization’s needs.

Online social media has introduced new and exciting ways for people to connect, build, and maintain relationships. So it is in a PR practitioner’s best interest to join the networks that would grant them the best access to their publics.

So in High Fidelity style here they are, the top 5 online services PR professionals should be using:

1) Twitter

Twitter is a simple way to inform your publics of current news and events from your organization. Twitter has become extremely popular because of its human factor. With only 140 characters you can connect with your “followers” on a personal level. PR practitioners can use Twitter to quickly answer questions, complaints, or concerns that their publics may have.

2) Facebook

Facebook started out as a college networking system has expanded into a social networking site for adults and now businesses. Because Facebook already has millions of users, creating a ‘page’ for your business will give it access to those users. PR practitioners can use this tool to hold contests and offer new promotions.

3) Wordpress

Wordpress is one of the many blogging applications available now. Wordpress, or any blogging site, is a great way to for a company to connect to its internal and external publics.

4) flickr

flickr is a video and photo sharing website is a great way to help a company allow its publics to be interactive. PR practitioners can use this tool to give the company’s publics the opportunity to share images and videos they have as well as see how it interacts with other publics.

5) Delicious

is a social book marking web service that is growing more and more popular. This site allows users access to their bookmarks regardless of what computer they are using as well as share those bookmarks with their networks. PR practitioners should use this application to bookmark company media and to monitor what their publics are finding interesting.


Regardless of the application choice, it is becoming extremely important for businesses and organizations to use these social media outlets. Each tweet, post, or picture is a way to interact with a public and to connect with it on a human level.

The links are there, there's really no excuse not to jump on the bandwagon now.

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Katie Keane

always wear sunscreen

How a company reacts during a crisis will determine how long the issue will carry on and how much harm or benefit it will cause.

Although PR practitioners don’t “solve” crises, they do play an important role in conveying information on how organizations are solving the crises. There are several things a PR practitioner can do to help solve the crises and prevent further damage. Some of the more important factors include:

1. Plan

Before a crisis even hits, companies should have a clear and defined plan. The plan should include:

• Who is in charge- a chain of command that dictates what responsibility belongs to whom.
• Who has the information- Create a list of the types of information needed and where it will have been stored in anticipation of a crisis.
• Who will speak on behalf of the organization- Designating a single spokesperson can help to avoid confusion and mistakes when it comes to speaking to the media. The spokesperson should be knowledgeable, composed, careful with words, and confident.
• Prepare a website-Create a “dark site" that can be launched at any time. Post to the site information the company’s publics would find important and interesting.

2. Promptly inform ALL publics

• The media will want all the facts and numbers right away. Give them whatever you may have at the time and tell them you will report back with updates as soon as more information becomes available.
• The employees should not be forgotten in the time of a crisis. They can be a company’s best line of defense and/or offense. Keeping employees informed will keep them from speculating and spreading rumors.

3. Be accessible

• Although one’s first reaction in a crisis is to run and hide, keeping the media in the dark will only add fuel to the fire. Between a company’s spokesperson and dark site information should be streaming throughout the entire crisis. Accessibility can help to cut down rumor mills that might get started through all the different social networks out there today.

Companies never look forward to a time of crisis. However, when they do occur and a company reacts well, it can come out of the crisis looking better than before the incident occurred.

By following the three steps I outlined above, a company will build trust and a positive reputation with the media, its employees, and its audience.

To build a strong, stable, and positive reputation a company must be strong, stable and positive even during the most critical of times.

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Katie Keane

Whose Got the Power?

Transmitting information from one entity to another can be done in a variety of ways. Through email, letters, speeches, music, art, and blogs, messages are carried out to numerous publics daily. However, to reach opinion leaders and other key publics PR practitioners use the mass media-radio, television, newspapers, and magazines.

The use of mass media allows information to be spread quickly to millions of people.

Several theories have developed to model the effect of using mass media to inform the public and shape public opinion. Among those theories are the Uses and Gratifications Theory and the Agenda-Setting Hypothesis.

The Uses and Gratifications Theory is really the only model that grants power to individual audience members. This control allows the audience to choose which messages will be received and acted upon. With the audience holding most of the power, the media becomes highly influenced by their wants and needs.

The Agenda-Setting Hypothesis is seen as the most accurate journal by most journalists. The hypothesis doesn’t tell people what to think, but what to think about. The media doesn’t try to persuade its audiences to think one way or another, but most media outlets carry the same top stories, thus the audience is led to consider what is “most important,” no matter where it looks.

Together these theories form a relationship that makes the audience believe that the media is leaving a message their hands. For example, a PR practitioner could use the Uses and Gratifications Theory to send messages to media they know audiences want or need and then use the Agenda-Setting Hypothesis to have several media outlets to carry out the story.

The role of a PR practitioner is essential in both theories. In the Uses and Gratifications Theory they supply information and messages to the media through the public. In the Agenda-Setting Hypothesis PR practitioners are more behind the media, delivering information and messages to the media, who then delivers the message in turn to the public.

Most messages seen or heard can be traced back to a public relations practitioner. It’s quite a powerful trade if you ask me.

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Katie Keane

This is Our Emergency

America has had a tough decade with terrorist attacks, a war on weapons, and an economic crisis. All of which have caused the American people to question everything and everyone. This doubt has made it extremely difficult for PR practitioners to earn and maintain credibility with their audiences.

I think it’s time that PR practitioners earn back the trust of the American people. A new decade begins in a few months, and with the plan I’ve mapped out below, a new attitude towards pr can begin with it.

GOAL: To increase credibility within the PR profession as a new decade begins by reestablishing relationships and trust with their publics.

OBJECTIVE 1: To increase accreditation programs by 30% among PR practitioners by March, 2011

Tactics:

• Make accreditation mandatory for all PRSA members

• Reduce fees, or use fees, to go towards test costs

• Make available free workshops and study sessions for members

• Arrange a face-to-face meeting with major and influential businesses to educate them on the benefits of having APR certified employees

OBJECTIVE 2: To increase community outreach by 40% with partner firms and businesses by June, 2012

Tactics:

• Make community service mandatory for all PRSA members

• Include the importance of social medias such as Twitter and Facebook in PRSA newsletter

• Arrange a face-to-face meeting with partner firms and businesses to discuss the importance of community relations and create incentive plans for their employees who become active in the community

A PR practitioner’s job is to influence their publics, and to be influential someone must be seen in a positive light, as trustworthy, and reliable. Succeeding in this plan could be a huge step in showing PR practitioner’s efforts to improve their field and its values.

Growth of the accreditation program would be one of the best ways to increase credibility in the PR field. With set standards and rules, practicing PR practitioners would become more aware and more liable for all of their actions. Certification in the field would allow businesses to be more conscience in who they are hiring as well as create an image to their publics that they are creating the best team possible.

Americans grew up learning to trust the people that entered their homes every night for the 5 o’clock news. PR practitioners have always remained more behind the scenes, strangers to the mass public. Community outreach would allow face-to-face time with the practitioners and the general public, allowing a familiarity to evolve and trust to begin.

This plan could be costly in the beginning, but the benefits of earning the American people's trust back far outweighs that cost.

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Katie Keane