If you’re working in PR and social media you might be interested in helping out two post graduate students that are working on research projects.

Laurence Baken (@PR_Social_Media) at Sheffield Hallam is taking a look at the importance of social media in the PR industry.

“I aim to find out how well PR practitioners are familiar and up-to-date with social media tools and how it enhances the PR practitioners’ power within their organizations in terms of decision-making power,” he says.

Weijia Qiu (@weijiaqui) at Newcastle University is exploring whether social media is a more cost effective channel to communicate with an audience in a downturn and whether its growth can be attributed to the recent downturn.