By Valerie Moses
As an Advertising/Public Relations student at the University of Central Florida, I am always interested in learning about the ways that different people and groups pass on their messages. Hundreds of years ago, local businesses advertised through mostly pictoral outdoor advertisements, and communication between individual people was often slow and inefficient. Flashing forward to 2011, we find our modes of communication changing rapidly, as we become more connected than ever before.
Because of this, I think that now is the most exciting time to be an intern in any form of communications. It seems that every day, the world finds a new way to craft its messages, and that there is a social media outlet for every purpose imaginable. Although the American Red Cross was founded in 1881, our Mid-Florida Region alone utilizes Facebook, Twitter and other types of social media (not to mention, its own website) to share its latest news and events with the community.
Even today, I was instrumental in the planning of a new and exciting type of event that Edward Bernays and the other 20th century leaders in communications had never even dreamed of. In 2011, communicating with the public has become a lot more imaginative and interactive.
Interning at the Mid-Florida Region of the Red Cross has shown me just how well such an established organization has kept up with the times and utilized the surge in technology to change the world for the better.
American Red Cross Mid-Florida Region 