I'm not surprised about the UF students not learning about the new social media. We're not learning anything in my graduate level mass communication classes at UCF. I know more than most, if not all, of my professors. And that's pretty scary.

I really appreciate all your efforts in reaching out to college students, especially the ones here at Auburn. Without you and the other MarCom contributors, many of us would still be blind towards the blogging world!

Your post reminds me of the age-old theory of what goes around comes around. I am a firm believer in trying to help others out, and believe that the help comes back to you. As I am beginning to graduate, all I hear is in order to get a job, one needs to network, network, network. I am doing my best at networking and trying to get my resume out to the right hands, but it is difficult to rely on the help of other people. I am a very outgoing person, but one of my biggest flaws is that sometimes I have a difficult time asking for help. Networking is a very humbling experience, as you have to ask for help and put yourself out there. If it wasn't for family friends and Auburn alums that want to help us up-and-comers, I would be having a much harder time trying to find a job.

There are many people, like yourself, that are making it easier for college seniors to get a grasp of what the "real-world" is like by coming to campuses and speaking with us. I am only speaking on behalf of myself, but I love hearing from experienced professionals in the PR field on how they got to where they are and advice and tips on how to be successful. The biggest thing any of us can do is to never stop learning. So, thanks again for your help with that!

I agree, Josh. My agency has a college internship program and both agency and interns are gaining a lot from the experience. The PR world's role in the development of new media has energized the program, and our interns today are involved in a number of interesting projects.

I know that I appreciate all you have done to assist with our Style and Design class at Auburn University. Conversing with public relations professionals like yourself provides us with a window of what life will be like when we are (hopefully) employed in the field. Like Jonathan above, I am always thrilled to get a glimpse of what possibilities are open to me once I leave Auburn.

After the many hours spent contemplating blogging topics for my public relations, I often wonder about the curriculum of other public relations programs at different universities that don’t have to take the technological classes that we are required to take. I honestly can’t imagine entering the workforce not knowing about blogs and other trends in the public relations world. I feel that we are going to be knowledgeable once we enter the world, and hopefully it will help us when we are trying to get jobs. I am thankful for your participation in our education and your contributions to this class. Hopefully, more public relations professionals will eventually start conversing with students to enrich our education even further.

I've made the effort up here in Toronto. Humber College is one of the better known college's that teaches PR and I've lectured there in the past on marcom. I've offered the services of our firm to get them up and blogging and I really hope they get there and end up doing something similar to Auburn's efforts.

Now, as I've been conscripted to join the board of the Toronto chapter of CPRS, my challenge will be to convince them that RSS feeds and blogs may be something they'd want to add to their communications efforts. Baby steps.

Josh, I think this is wonderful advice you are giving to others and I appreciate all of your efforts and work that you have done so far in helping myself and other public relations students at Auburn. This is a great opportunity that Robert has made available for us at Auburn to connect with real world public relations practitioners that we can learn from. It is a huge blessing to have experts in areas of pr that we are learning about to look to for instruction, advice and examples of how to do things that we are unfamiliar with.

This experience is better than anything a textbook could give me or a lecture. This is real world tools that we will be using after we graduate. The more information we can get now, while we are still in school, the better. I thank you for your contribution and participation that you have done for us and hope others follow in your steps. It is always good to hear from public relations practitioners about ways we can improve, any tips and new discoveries in the public relations world that can help us.

Josh, I appreciate this call to action. Being on the receiving end of all this information so many professionals, like yourself, are sharing I must say I truly do appreciate it. I recently read an article about how important mentoring was and how it helped many in our field become the successful people they are today. I feel so lucky to have people in the “real world” spending their time explaining the ropes to me. I do love my classes here at Auburn, and appreciate the professors we have, but it is so important that we do hear from people actually working in the field.

We can take what you say and apply it to our lives. We can take your advice and carry it with us as we enter one of the biggest transitions of our lives. The future is so uncertain for many of us, and having professionals take their time to explain what to expect is so beneficial. I spoke with one of my friends who attends the “other” university in Alabama, and she said that she hasn’t had the chances we have had. So, I feel like a thank you is due, so thank you.

You may not think that your posts are mentoring us, but I will tell you on behalf of my classmates it is. I catch myself speaking with other classmates about your, along with all the other contributors, posts day-to-day. It gives us a sense of where PR and marketing is going, and giving us that edge may help put us one step ahead of others in the future.

Hopefully, many people will respond to your post, and see the true benefits of helping us while we are still in college. It can’t hurt us…only teach us, and help us grow. So, I hope many people read this post and then read these comments and gain a sense of understanding of our appreciation.