Read Case Activity: A Social Media Campaign for Yogurt Program on page 244.

Answer the questions in the Writing Prompt section and provide your opinion on the use of social media (based on the chapter) for the public relations activities part of their marketing plan. Participate in the discussion on Social Media with someone else in the course. This is page 244: The discussion on the previous pages examined ways in which an individual can formulate persuasive messages. The ability to use these techniques often leads to charges that public relations practitioners have great power to influence and manipulate people. In reality, the effectiveness of persuasive techniques is greatly exaggerated. Persuasion is not an exact science, and no surefire way exists to predict that people will be persuaded to believe a message or act on it. If persuasive techniques were as refined as the critics say, all people might be driving the same make of car, using the same soap, and voting for the same political candidate. This doesnt happen because several variables intervene in the flow of persuasive messages. Elihu Katz says the two major intervening variables are selectivity and interpersonal relations; these are consistent with the limited-effects model of mass communication.

For purposes of discussion, the limitations on effective persuasive messages can be listed as:

(1) lack of message penetration,

(2) competing messages,

(3) self-selection, and

(4) self-perception.

This is a Public Relation Subject.