OrCom is what you would want

Thinking about what to blog took me forever (literally). I would like to share my experience in having Organizational Communication as a course in college. But I don’t know how I would start the blog. Uh-oh big problem . I tried asking my mom’s advice only to be disappointed with what she said.

“Dapat kasi nag-nursing ka na lang para di ka na nagiisip ng isusulat mo sa blog mo”

Talk about a weird answer. But I don’t blame her for it; (aside from the fact that I love my mom) she has been very vocal about making me choose nursing as a course in college. I know most Organizational Communication majors share the same sentiments. Like other comm bloggers here, Organizational communication was not my first choice when I applied in UP. Actually I tried to enter nursing but to no success. I wanted to please my mom and also myself since I have been really thinking about it. When got into UP I didn’t want to let the opportunity go to waste so I grabbed it along with the available course back then.

Then it all began, my love-hate relationship with Organizational Communication.

Organizational Communication is not your typical course. Aside from it being offered in only a number of schools, it also brings out the uniqueness of its students. According to Goldhaber, Organizational Communication is the process of creating and exchanging messages within a network of interdependent relationships to reduce uncertainty.

Aside from applying this in school and in the companies I’ve visited before. I was also able to apply Organizational Communication in my family (hehe). I told my mom and everyone else in the family all about the course and we talked about career opportunities up for grabs because of my course. After four years I think I was able to show her what the essence of the course is as well as its perks. And as far as I observed, she respects the course more now. I mean who wouldn’t when you witness all the things to be done and the effort put into each subject and requirement. It shows how important communication is to make people understand.

As a senior, I can say that I have enjoyed every moment of my college life because of the lessons taught in OrCom. You won’t get bored with it; reports, plans, pitches, stat, research papers, speeches, debates, etc. You would also be exposed to different specializations like advertising, corporate communication, public relation, marketing, management, human resources, research, etc.

But being an OrCom student doesn’t only teach many things. It gives the students the chance to expose themselves to the corporate world. With this experience in college, students would be more eager and prepared to be part of the work force of the country. The classes themselves are very interesting.

I kept telling my mom all about it and I update her with the latest thing to do in OrCom. I surely hope she understands more why I love my course and why she should love it too (even if she still wants me to also take nursing).

Back-to-Basic: The Evolution of Comm

“How much have you changed since you started OrCom?”

Question from Sir Barry that really made us think. Immeasurable, but I know I’ve changed in different ways (such as personality, comm skills, CAREER PLAN and many more). The topic this week:

B.I.S.

Three letters representing many years of communicating. It is about the Evolution Of Communication. If people would ask what that is, we can explain it using these three significant letters.

How much have you changed?

Just like anyone else in this neutral world, everybody else changes. This change may be the drastic one but everyone of us wants a/to change, whether it’d be appearance, personality, skills or goals. Some of us would even go to rallies or wars to pursue change.

In communication, it is observed that there are changes that would either be an advantage or disadvantage to the evolution of communication. Each stage in the evolution of communication has distinctions of their own, they have characteristics that would separate them from each other. I can present you a gist of each stage of the evolution.

Broadcast,Interactive and Social Media.

Broadcast: where “WE tell you” through the help of Big media buys for advertisements. “WE” pertaining to the control of information by the publisher or broadcaster and the big companies, a somewhat capitalist/bureaucratic act and a lot like Martial Law.  Widely used before when companies are more profit-oriented rather than people-oriented. Mass reached, high credibility, push comm effort with no measurement.

Interactive: where YOU “tell US what you think of what WE tell you” through the help of both big and small media buys. YOU already have a way to express your opinions in the form of comments, forum and ratings.Like a parliamentary form of government, you still have elections of representatives but most probably you have no direct say on who would be prime minister. But it is not certain that we take note of what you tell US and we still have full power over the message. There is a question of credibility, push&pull comm effort but with feedback mechanism.

Social Media: where you “Tell each other” through the  the help of small media buys and audience investments. It is when everyone can be anyone. Democratic in nature, everyone has rights yet there are still moderators. There is involvement, control is within every co-creator but low accountability and credibility.

As said in class, the Philippines is somewhere between Interactive and Social Media where both is still being used to a great advantage. As the evolution of communication continues, we promote audience participation more and give the power to contribute and control to every audience.

We continue developing the sense of engagement of all people. The evolution continues as the people also develop new ways to improve ways of communicating, selling, and advertising.

One after Another

Television-radio-newspaper-magazine-poster-billboard-online-many more.

Selling has never been the same since people started reinventing ways to earn. Advertising has never been the same since people started being more innovative. There always seems to be a new way to advertise.

The new era of branding and marketing has come. Advertisers/marketers use different channels to widen the range of their reach. You are bombarded with different ads coming from the different channels. Billboards pop-up one after another, commercials are shown numerous times a day, products are being advertised online, trains and buses are filled with advertisements. Sometimes it is impossible for the audience not to notice it.

The world of advertising certainly has its mysteries and treasures. After doing this activity in class, where we tallied the brands we encounter everyday and how many times we see them within the day made me think about some things.

• One, you see these advertisements everywhere you look.
• Two, they really want to make you sure you remember them.
• Three, they cater to the interests and needs of their audience.
• Four, they use different strategies and tactics that would attract attention of the audience like hire famous personalities, catchy taglines, and more.

• Five, companies spend a hell lot of money to make/buy these!

These were the first five things I noticed and thought of. We sometimes underestimate the power and the cost of this industry as well. But come to think of it, these channels are what we appreciate the most. Some brands are successful in making people remember them because of both continuous exposure and developing connection with the advertisements. They trigger the interests of their audience which was proven by the class activity. The popular brands are those that we relate to the most. These billboards and commercials, like the other channels for advertising, are there because they serve their purpose effectively.