What future plans?

Lately I have been doing something I try not to do. I have been thinking a lot about the future. Where will I do my internship? What type of internship do I want? Should I travel before going into a career? Should I join the peace corps? If I do travel, how in the world am I going to pay for it? When I do enter a career what do I want to do? Where will I want to live? These questions and so many more are constantly running threw my head and to make matters worse, everyone I know has an opinion about it. This is why I started to do my own research. I read many different articles about getting started in PR, how the poor economy is affecting the job industry, etc. What I have found is that while the PR job industry is not the hardest hit by our poor economy it is still not thriving in the way I and many other soon to be PR graduates would like it to be. However the articles did offer tips on how to get ahead of the competition. Internships, social networking skills, desktop publishing and at least a basic study of sociology were all listed as some of the most important skills needed when applying for jobs post graduation. I will graduate with all of these this accomplished but this still doesn't help me figure out what I am going to do when I graduate.

I discussed this with my cousins this past weekend when I was in Texas. My cousins are all in their late twenties and are fully into their careers, I asked if there had been many lay-offs at their companies?, if the companies were hiring?, if they thought it would be a good idea to travel now or go into a career? Their answer was to go ahead and travel. This was pretty much the encouragement I needed. There are many different ways that I can travel for cheap, the one I am looking into is an opportunity through STA travel. STA will find a you a job in almost any country as well as a place to live for at least six moths. This might not be what most people would like to do but I think it is a very good thing for me because with the mass communications we have today there is a lot more international communication. This means that being able to live, work and communicate in a different culture is a desirable skill for PR professionals to have. So while I am traveling I can work in another country, build up my resume and immerse myself in something completely unlike anything I have ever experienced.

All the little birds on jaybird street love to hear the robin go tweet, tweet, tweet

Twitter, tweeting, tweet. That has pretty much what I have been doing for the past 2 hours, and I kind of like it. If I have a question for some of my friends from home they respond to it immediately via their cell phone, there is no waiting 5 hours for a response, it is almost immediate. That aspect of twitter is great but I still have not mastered the site. For instance what is a nudge? Why does twitter keep telling me I reached my limit on searching for people? Why can't I find people who I know are on twitter? I'm sure I'll figure all these things out soon enough but in the mean time I'm a tiny bit confused.

The other side to this is, since I don't have a television and I hardly have time to read a newspaper I can now follow news media on twitter. If something important happens in the world CNNI will tweet about it. My favorite magazine, Rolling Stone, is also on twitter so now I can stay up-to-date on my favorite bands and music news all for FREE (my favorite word). I am not saying that the 140 character updates will be my primary souce of news but on days when I get to campus to late to pick up a NY Times I can always get the most pressing news issues via twitter. Twitter is also great for staying informed with what is happening in the PR world and with any luck I can start networking for an internship and future job possibilities.

In recent years there have been numerous online social networking websites to arise and gain significant prominence, not just in the PR world but also in everyday life. These sites have become a way for friends across the country to stay in touch, for businessmen to stay informed, and for PR professionals to stay in touch and inform the public. It is becoming increasingly necessary for PR professionals and students to be skilled in these online networks. Joseph Priest selected 15 different media terms to know in 2009, all of which have something to do with the Internet and technological advances. Just in my PR Admin class it is necessary to be apart of "twitter" as well as keep a blog. If these tools are being taught in our classes I just wounder what is next for the PR world?