Allow me to introduce myself.  My name is Peter Kloczko and I’ve happily settled into my first full time role in public relations as an Account Executive at Res Publica.  I’m extremely happy to start in this industry after five short years at university studying public communications and international studies.

Whilst education provides a solid foundation of knowledge and experience, invariably the first day at work once again starts the learning process.  I’ve found this to be the case, with particular reference to the uses of social media.

I had never before considered myself as oblivious to the developments of social media but I was amazed to see the creative uses of existing social media platforms and the emergence of the new – such as Foursquare and Yelp.  

Already in my first month I have witnessed firsthand the potential of Twitter, when the Res team sent comedian Stephen Fry a Golden Gaytime gift-pack off the back of comments he made about iconic Australian foods.  The results, which included comments from places as far away as the UK, America and Russia, astounded me.

My previous usage of social media was neither active nor inactive – including the obligatory Facebook page, a defunct/dormant Twitter account and a dead, buried, cremated MySpace page.  Now that I think about it, I never really was on the cutting edge, rather keeping up with the Joneses.

I can foresee that in order to be successful in this new industry of mine, I’m going to have to devote considerable time and effort into understanding these new technologies and to realise their potential to convey a message for my future clients.   

That is why I have challenged myself, with the guidance of my colleagues, to over next few months look into each medium of social media on a case by case basis – to learn the intricacies of each platform, learn how best to use them as a public relations practitioner – and then to report back here on the Res blog.

Wish me luck.