Looking At Other Blogs

This week we were asked to read and evaluate two different blogs from our PR research class.  This was an interesting assignment because it gave me a reason to sit down and read the different blogs of my peers.  I was fortunate enough to find two blogs that were in my area of interest that I feel I could expand and comment on…

The first blog I found was a blog by Steph.  In this blog Steph gives a brief description on her take of our celebrity driven world and the influence popular celebs have on our everyday life.  She discusses the impact celebrities have on the products we buy due to their current status or reputation.   The blog was very interesting but I felt that it was very bland and boring for a topic that is so huge.  As Steph mentioned, it is quite obvious that our culture is overly obsessed with the rich and famous.  Regular television has recently been taken over by celebrity reality shows, book stores are being filled with icon biographies and malls are now filled with everything from posters, t-shirts, pens and drinks all idolizing our favorite star.  As much as I enjoyed reading Steph’s blog I found it somewhat frustrating to read because there was so much she could have expanded on.   It would have been really interesting if Steph researched and found the way companies chose their celebrity of choice to promote their product.  Out of all the celebrities in Hollywood, why is Usher promoting Master Card? Or why is Sarah Jessica Parker, the fashion icon of NYC endorsing Garnier face products?  It is understandable that celebrities grab your attention and make you more likely to buy the product…but why that celebrity for that product. 

The second blog I read was Sammi’s.  I found her blog really interesting because it talked about and gave examples of different ways fashion companies are using social media to help both their product and their customers.   Sammi then goes into briefly discussing how research through surveys and social media feedback is extremely beneficial today.  As we can see on Facebook and Twitter, there are hundreds of companies who are advertising their products in hopes that followers and Tweeters grow some kind of interest in their merchandise.  In Steph’s blog she goes an extra step and gives an excellent example of how Anne Taylor LOFT is using Facebook to their benefit.  This past June photos were published of a new line of silk cargo pants, customers found this photo shoot controversial stating that the pants would only look good on a size two model.  In less than 24 hours Anne Taylor LOFT uploaded new pictures of employees from their office who are not a size two wearing the pants.  This instant reaction is just one way social media is helping companies.  As Steph discuses, “Anne Taylor gained even more publicity for using research and social media effectively, as they received positive coverage from various media outlets.”  This blog was extremely interesting to me because of the examples and reactions the fashion company made to ensure their product would sell. 

After reading both of these blogs I thought it would be interesting to see the different ways social media’s are being used within companies, here are some of the stats I found…