The Mystery of the Pod Cast

Pod casting is some what of a mystery to me. I have never subscribed or listened to one until about two hours ago. But I discovered that I really enjoy them. I have always liked talk radio which may explain why I am now partial to pod casts. My first pod cast was For Immediately Release: The Hobson and Holtz Report (also known as FIR). The pod cast I listened to was # 394 on Nov. 3, 2008. Although listening to the program is part of my grade, I believe I got more out of it than just that. My corporate public relations class is centered around social media and I honestly had no idea it existed till now. FIR is comprised of real world examples and debates about public relations issues and social media. It is important in any major to not only learn from your classes and text books, but also from real world examples. This is one reason why I enjoyed FIR because they discus current issues and offer different perspectives on them.

 

Unfortunately the episode I observed featured Holts and Hobson separately. Both of their segments were informative and enjoyable, but I have heard from my professor, Barbara Nixon, that they engage in some very good disagreements and I am looking forward to hearing them together on a future cast. One aspect of public relations I am very interested in is international public relations and FIR discussed two international issues. The first segment was from Michael Netzley who is reporting from the Singapore. Netzley interviewed two enthusiasts on Singapore’s growing thirst to learn about social media. They discussed how people Singapore are eager to try social media, but are still unaware of the rules associated with it. It is neat to hear that other young people across the world are experiencing and learning the same things as our class in the U.S.  

 

Another issue that we discuss in our public relations courses is bribing. An issue I am not aware of is a recent controversy between Microsoft and some bloggers. Apparently a few years ago Microsoft sent out a preview of Vista installed on high speed computers to bloggers. The bloggers were instructed to review the new program, but then could keep them if they wanted. I definitely see how this could be considered a bribe and Microsoft should have considered that. Recently Microsoft invited bloggers to test another new product on new high-tech computers, but it is still unclear if they made the same mistake as before.

 

All in all I really enjoyed Hobson and Holtz report. They take time to thank new listeners and others that appear on their show. Also I liked how they had a section at the end of the show for listener comments. I encourage anyone interested in either social media or public relations to give it a listen. I know I will continue to listen in.