This August marks 10 years since I started my freshman year of college, and while it doesn't seem as though I should be that far removed from today's college freshmen, consider this list:
- I did not own a cell phone and would not get one for two years.
- I did not have a laptop, nor did many of my classmates. My new desktop cost around $1,100.
- The most cutting-edge portable music player of the day involved CDs.
- Digital cameras were an expensive novelty that few of my classmates owned.
- Text messaging was not widely available on all mobile phones.
- "Google" was not a regular part of our vocabulary.
- Facebook would not even be dreamed up until well after I had graduated.
Today's students are arriving at college with all manner of gadgetry and Web savvy. Most have had Facebook profile for a few years, are all but addicted to text messaging, regularly snap and share digital photos of their friends (often on their phones) and can't think of a question that Google hasn't been able to answer.
For students studying PR and communication, the key foundations of the curriculum haven't changed (communicating an organization's story in an engaging way) but the tactics are vastly different. Students are now focused on telling stories across platforms and using video, audio, photography and graphics to do so. Writing is still the paramount skill, but it's not the only tool in the kit anymore.
Whereas I was taught "traditional" media relations in terms of developing pitches and news releases to send to editors and reporters, today's PR students are learning about blogger relations, Twitter pitches, direct-to-stakeholder Web campaigns and word-of-mouth marketing. Designing Web pages is now a more coveted skill than designing newsletters, and knowing how to write a compelling blog post is as important as understanding the fundamentals of AP style and writing media advisories.
Even today's students, though, who grew up on technology, must continue to adapt. The PR industry is constantly evolving and now more than ever it's becoming more integrated with marketing, advertising, sales and even customer service. Ten years from now any one of today's freshmen will probably be able to write a very similar post to this one.
Check out Beloit College's annual Mindset List to see just how differently this year's college freshmen view the world. What's changed since you were in college? How have you managed to keep your skills sharp with the onslaught of new technologies and tactics that are constantly challenging the way you were taught to do things?
Image via Flickr user jeremy.wilburn
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