Sweetser: Managing Identities Online is Important

Creating and managing an online identity is extremely important, according to an assistant professor of public relations at the University of Georgia today in an interview with students.
Kaye Sweetser, whose research focuses primarily on the use of social media, claimed that individuals must not only take steps to control what people see on social networking sites, but also should create a professional online persona for potential employers to see.
“You need an online presence because whether you realize it or not, you already have one,” Sweetser said, referring to the broad use of the networking site Facebook by students. She encouraged the use of LinkedIn, a site Sweetser called “the professional Facebook.”
She also spoke of the growing importance of social media as a communication tool for political candidates. While it used to be a requisite for candidates to make appearances on late night talk show such as Jay Leno or David Letterman, it is now just as important to appear on social and viral websites, Sweetser asserted.
Sweetser claimed that Barack Obama has made the best use of such techniques, utilizing sites such as YouTube to amass what Sweetser called a “grassroots following” of young supporters. She also believes that neither John McCain nor Hillary Clinton have not made effective use of these tools.
“People want to see the candidate on a very personal level,” Sweetser said.

U.S. reporting too simplified?

Media outlets in the U.S. tend to oversimplify the stories they report, according to a mass communication expert at the University of Georgia speaking to a group of journalism students today.
Dr. Tudor Vlad, who was a reporter in Romania during and after the fall of the communist regime in the country, spoke to the students on a variety of subjects including the far-reaching effects of U.S. media around the world.
“When you have 30 seconds on television, it is easiest to just find the good and bad guys and tell what’s going on,” he said.
Vlad used the example of the first few weeks of news coverage during the Iraq War, during which he claimed that the media put forth a consistent message of patriotism and unquestioning loyalty, and actually reminded him of communist propaganda. Instead of a government-enforced ideal, however, U.S. media is driven by ratings, Vlad asserted.
The oversimplification of such complicated issues as regional conflicts can have quite a damaging effect, Vlad said. When it happens, media organizations in other countries that base their news on U.S. reports have tend to compromise the accuracy of the information to an even greater degree, resulting in misinterpretation and confusion.
Although this type of reporting runs rampant, Vlad claims that solid, in-depth journalism still exists, though it may not be as easily accessible. “You have to dig a little deeper to find that type of reporting,” Vlad said.

The Little Spud that Could

The once lowly potato plant has become an “icon of globalization,” according to a renowned expert on the economics of food industry speaking to a journalism class at Hometown University today.
Ezra Kuttner, who works in the College of Food, Agriculture, and Environmental Sciences at Ohio State University, spoke of the virtues of the tasty spud in a speech aptly titled, “In praise of the humble but world-changing potato plant.”
According to Kuttner, there are three important trends that potatoes have spurred: economic development, free trade, and globalization. From their origin in the mountains of Peru, to underpinning the England’s industrial revolution, the influence of the potato is ancient.
Since 2008 has been dubbed “the year of the potato,” there seems to be no better time to celebrate the impact of the world’s fourth largest food crop. Kuttner also applauded a recent book by John Reader entitled “Propitious Esculent: The Potato in World History,” which speaks of the ascension of the plant.
“Mashed, fried, boiled, and roast,” Kuttner proclaimed, “a humble tuber changed the world.”