At a minimum, each student will be expected to post an original and thoughtful response to the DB question and contribute to the weekly dialogue by responding to at least two other posts, either the instructor's response to one of your posts, or posts from students. The first contribution must be posted before midnight (Central Time) on Friday of each week. Two additional responses are required, each on different days, after Friday of each week. Students are highly encouraged to engage on the Discussion Board early and often - at a minimum of three (3) different days each week, as this promotes learning and is an important factor in grading for the Discussion Board assignment.

The purpose of the Discussion Board is to allow students to learn through sharing ideas and experiences as they relate to course content and the DB question. Because it is not possible to engage in two-way dialogue after a conversation has ended, no posts to the DB will be accepted after the end of each unit.

Assignment Details

This DB has 3 parts

Traditional tools of marketing and PR have undergone a shift as new tools for the trade are developed, specifically social media. Very often marketers will use blogs and other social sites/networks to sound like people having a conversation or posting a message but, it's really a contrived marketing/PR tool. That said:

Do these "seemingly real" conversations work effectively to shift your opinions of products and services? Explain.

Are they a credible source for information and/or recommendations? Why or why not?

Are there times or incidents when these types of efforts could or would be more effective? If so, what are they?