By Andrezj Sienko
Steve Rubel, a senior vice president in the Edelman public relations firm, noted blogger and University alumnus, spoke to students Wednesday night about the changing face of Internet media. Communications students packed the NewsHub, the University’s converged newsroom, to hear him speak.
Rubel’s hour-long presentation focused on the new collaborative role Internet users have in publishing information.
“Lines are becoming blurred in media,” Rubel said. “Authenticity and trust have now become important things that are important in personal relationships.”
Rubel said he advised Edelman’s clients on these new technological trends, often through the use of blogs, or interactive Web sites. One example he showed was Filterforgood.com, a Brita water Web site where visitors can pledge to reduce bottled water waste.
“Where collaboration and openness meet, that’s where I think, arguably, is the best place,” Rubel said.
Rubel’s blog, MicroPersuasion.com, has more than 50,000 unique visitors daily. Rubel said he used to update it three times a day, seven days week, but he now only updates about twice a week. “Still,” he said, “I spend about 19 hours on the computer every day. Sometimes every waking hour. This is my passion.”
Rubel said he had no idea this future awaited him when he first attended the University. “It was somewhere after stone tablets but before computers,” he said, “I asked, ‘What’s public relations?'”
Rubel offered advice to students looking to take advantage of new media tools. “Your resumé gets you in the door, but your digital resumé really pulls them in,” said Rubel. He said Facebook.com and other social networking sites should be used to promote students’ work, especially to a potentially tech-savvy employer. “It’s supposed to be an expression of your personality, but be careful,” he said, “your employer may Google you.”
Rubel said new media will play an important role in the classroom, citing Google Documents and its Reader function as tools professors should use with students. He told the audience that they live in a fast-paced, changing environment, but they should still keep up with and understand the range of tools available to them.
The event was broadcast live online, and many students from the University’s Online Journalism course were in attendance. Rubel’s message resonated with many of them. “I completely agreed that everyone is now a curator of content, personally choosing and filtering information,” said Sara Knee, junior public relations major.
Knee runs her own blog, and like many other students in her class, has been following Rubel on a social networking Web site, Twitter.com.
“You want to change the world, you run your life your own way,” said Rubel, addressing the students whom he called “a more Internet-friendly generation.”
“My generation didn’t have the Internet. Now you are the ones in control,” Rubel said.