Let's Talk About...

Once again, I will be focusing on my peers' blogs and what they have been focusing on discussing with their readers.  I enjoy doing this because it gives me an opportunity to indulge in their feelings about different types of PR and what is on their mind. As I sit back and explore my peers' thoughts, I would like to present their ideas to you so you can think critically about different insights others have, as opposed to mine.

I will start with Alexis' blog that mainly focuses on Fashion PR and the fashion industry in general.  In her blog on qualitative research, she discusses a company (Avon) that conducted a focus group to determine what the make up habits were of Hispanic women in a specific area (Tallahassee, Florida.) The results of this focus group compared the habits of Hispanic women to those of other nationalities, specifying which tendencies they were most likely to have. I found this very interesting because the women who participated in this study were found to wear certain types of make up on a regular basis as opposed to Caucasians, African Americans, or Asians. However, as I have learned in class, focus groups are not always reliable when it comes to finding out information for companies or studies in general.  This because they contain a small group of people (usually about 6-12) and are performed in a small demographic.  Therefore, the information and insights gained from focus groups cannot necessarily be used towards conclusions based on the general public.

Another blog that caught my attention was Katerina's, which focused more on social media.  I was instantly drawn to to her blog because it relates similarly with the focus of my own blog.  In Katerina's most recent post, she discusses how qualitative research can be conducted using social networking websites, such as Facebook.  Social networking has becoming increasingly popular among the general population, including businesses (both new and old.)  Since almost everyone has a Facebook page, it is easy to access certain information about a person or organization in just the click of a button.  In Katerina's blog, she mentions how you can find out whether or not a celebrity is "liked" by fans by visiting their Discussion Board on Facebook.  People are able to leave comments about a person, stating whatever they feel (as long as it is Facebook appropriate,) as well as "like" posts and/or pictures of them.  This is one simple and newly available way to conduct qualitative research on a subject.  The only downfall is that not everyone in the PR industry is social media savvy.