The #HAPPO movement, which has gained national attention, began with PR professionals donating their time and talents to help fellow PR pros connect with potential employers. The PR community has embraced #HAPPO and continues to match up the right job opportunities with peers, by encouraging PR professionals to share information, advice and contacts in an effort to help colleagues and fellow professionals in their job searches.
“Social media really brought the entire PR community together on a united front. I’ve never seen so many PR professionals bond together to help one another,” stated Arik Hanson. He further stated, “It’s wonderful to see social media serve not only as the great connector, but also as the great equalizer by allowing professionals at all levels of the industry to help one another.”
“Although recent economic indicators point to Public Relations as a growth industry, we’re coming out of an incredibly tough job market and anything that we can do as an industry to help professionals is a step in the right direction. Social media provides an exciting opportunity to leverage existing relationships and helps to facilitate new introductions. It is a great way to connect people to share information about jobs and provide motivation and support by demonstrating the sense of community within the public relations industry” said Valerie Simon.
#HAPPO just completed its first event on February 19, 2010, with impressive results:
HAPPO Blog
- 25 posts/ 250 comments
- 18,456 views (5,194 on #HAPPO Friday, 2/19)
HAPPO Facebook Site
- 1,218 Fans (61 active fans)
- 84 interactions this week (43 likes, 12 comments and 51 wall posts)
HAPPO Twitter handle
- 1,038 followers
- 73 lists
- 315 tweets
- 672 link clicks
Other interesting statistics include:
- Between the announcement on Feb 5 and Feb 20th #HAPPO had over 10,000 mentions in social media
- More than 250 mentions in blogs
- More than 9,693 tweets (day of event 4,334)
Post Event Activity:
- 150-250 tweets a day using the hashtag #HAPPO
The next #HAPPO event is scheduled for Friday, April 30, 2010, from 12-2pm CT, with quarterly themed events moving forward to gain more awareness and momentum for the grass roots movement.
For more information on #HAPPO, please contact Valerie Simon at 973.251.3023 or Arik Hanson at 612.875.2979 and visit the #HAPPO blog at http://helpaprproout.com for more news.