By Brooke Bates   bbates@dnronline.com

Students usually hand in final papers for a single set of eyes to read. But Corey Hickerson’s advanced public relations writing class at JMU has been writing for thousands of readers for the past couple months.

Hickerson, an assistant professor of communication studies who researches Internet use in public communication, wanted his public relations students to write as much as possible.

He knew structured assignments would draw sighs, so he suggested blogs.

Students, like junior Lianne Palmatier, started the class having never read one.

Now, she says, “there’s not a day that I don’t go online and read a different blog, I didn’t realize there was so much info on the Internet.”

These 20 students, plus an untraceable number of other college bloggers,

contribute to that well of information that reaches far beyond JMU. As they carry their experience beyond Harrisonburg, they prove that their blogs are worth more than a grade.

An online community
A 2006 Pew survey called “Bloggers: A portrait of the internet’s new storytellers” identifies that 57 million American adults, or 39 percent of Internet users, read blogs. And more than half of the 12 million bloggers are younger than 30.

Hickerson says companies are catching on, using blogs to connect with customers and audiences. Newspaper reviews of a company or service are one thing, he says.

“But if one blog picks you up, it’s more of a personal recommendation. And that’s how this generation gets their news.”

The class blogs launched in February.  Palmatier started Newest Wrinkles (www.newestwrinkles.com) with junior Maggie Cannon and seniors Jessica Miller, Colleen Nuzzi and Kaitlyn Rawlett. Their blog, aimed at helping college students find chic fashion on a budget, tallied 2,000 hits within a couple weeks of launching. It’s now nearing 5,000.

Palmatier says blogging tapped a pool of online contacts she wouldn’t have otherwise found.

Networking was also the driving force behind Valley Vibrations (www.valleyvibrations.com), a local music blog that previews shows and showcases bands in the Shenandoah Valley. Jillian Aurrichio, Landon Hayes and Jean Pitzer created a Valley Vibrations MySpace page to contact venues and artists in the area.

Before long, bars and bands started pitching events to them.

When the info starts seeking the blog instead of the other way around, Hickerson says, blogs become more like a media outlet.

While Valley Vibrations established relationships with local music folk, Life Before Noon networked with established blogs. The “Millennial’s Manual,” which covered topics relevant to graduating college seniors, averaged 500 hits a week.

Some of the viewers were fellow bloggers who asked Carla Blumenthal, Rachel Canfield, Marilyn Coates, Aida Fazlic and Haley Rice to guest blog. Brazen Careerist (www.brazencareerist.com), a prominent “online career center” for Generation Y, even invited Life Before Noon to join its network of young professional bloggers. Canfield says their posts will automatically feed into the Brazen Careerist site.

More than an assignment
Senior Ashley Hopkins, news editor of JMU’s student newspaper, “The Breeze,” wasn’t a member of Hickerson’s class. But last September, she independently launched a blog (ashley-presspass.blogspot.com) as her senior honors project.

“I thought it would be cool for people to hear my take on issues I’m writing about in ‘The Breeze,’ ” she says. She posts about campus, local and national news. She also set up blogs on “The Breeze” Web site, where student bloggers muse about sports, relationships or the environment.

Hopkins thinks modern blogs echo the early press, where reports were based on hearsay and opinion rather than expert sources.

“Anyone with the resources can be her own editor. It is subjective and it is biased,” she says, “but I don’t think that’s a bad thing.”

Besides, she adds, most bloggers understand the responsibility. “Anytime you present info to a mass audience, you have the ability to influence people whether you mean to or not,” she says. Although only 34 percent of bloggers surveyed in the Pew study consider their blog a form of journalism, more than half of them verify facts anyway, often linking to original sources.

Hopkins already handed in the paper detailing what the blog taught her. But that doesn’t mean the learning — or the project — is over.

“It will always be something I’ll be doing on the side,” she says, joining the 84 percent of Pew-surveyed bloggers who consider it a hobby. 

Hickerson’s students also plan to maintain their sites after graduation. Many say the project boosted both the quality of their writing and their communication confidence. 

Hickerson says their commitment proves that they’re not just seeking a good grade.

“This blog goes so far beyond a school assignment,” Canfield says. “We’ve become part of a bigger community.”

Links
n Valley Vibrations: Artists, venues and concerts across the Shenandoah Valley. www.valleyvibrations.com
n Newest Wrinkles: Fashion tips for staying chic in the Valley. www.newestwrinkles.com
n Life Before Noon: Conversations about the Millennial Generation’s transition to college and beyond.   www.lifebeforenoon.com
n The College Skinny: The inside scoop on college health and fitness. www.thecollegeskinny.com
n Travel 4 Fifty: Quick, cheap weekend road trips for less than $50.   www.travel4fifty.com
n Press Pass: A college newspaper editor’s response to current events.           ashley-presspass. blogspot.com