PR in the IoT

When I was finishing my undergraduate degree six years ago, one of my communications professors introduced the class to something called the “Internet of Things.” He explained that in the not-so-distant future, we’d be living in what basically amounted to the home in that classic Disney Channel movie, Smart House—refrigerators that could order eggs and milk for us when we ran out, kitchen counters that could access the latest blood work from our doctor and prep meals for any nutrient deficiencies, and plants that could send a text to remind us that it was watering time. He noted that this world would mean big changes for the public relations industry. At the time, it seemed little more than Jetsons-esque dreaming to me. What would I ever need a texting plant for, and why would it matter in my career?

College me was naïve.