How social media is changing public relations

Public relations has long relied on traditional media outlets as a means to obtain publicity. A particular dynamic exists between ‘the media’ and PR professionals where journalists receive pitches via standard communication mechanisms like media alerts and press releases. In the past few years, an emerging information sharing system called “social media” has become increasingly prominent among internet users. PR professionals must make an important decision about social media: should they compete with it or should they embrace it as a useful tool?

Many bloggers come down on public relations with accusations that social media will replace the need for PR because essentially it has the capacity to do exactly what PR professionals aim to do—reach target audiences with strategic messages, only free of charge. PR industry experts keeping up with the latest social media tactics argue the opposite; they suggest jumping on the bandwagon to reach consumers and reporters alike (Swisher, K., 2008). There is a fine line between public relations’ downfall to social media, and the prosperity the new medium could bring to the industry. Social media can be a progressive, useful tool for public relations if used in a creative, proactive and informed manner. Rather than contributing to the downfall of the industry, social media may in fact be the ticket to saving public relations in a dynamic, unstable period of change.

A vast array of social media exists today; deciphering which may be relevant to public relations can be difficult. Podcasts (audio recordings similar to short radio programs), social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, blogs (short for Web logs) and micro-blogs are some of the more popular social media used today. Blogs and micro-blogs are arguably the most useful new media to PR professionals. A blog is a website that can belong to anybody, where the creator updates followers, or those who read the website, with stories about specific topics. Companies have blogs to tell customers about the latest products, promotions, and hold discussions about the products. Blogs can also be helpful in crisis communication to control negative messages that may spread. Anybody can comment on a blog in response to a post, to ask a question or to make a suggestion. The administrator of the blog can read the comments and create a discussion where interactive conversations take place. This dimension of blogging exemplifies the significance of social media: the nature of communicating with mass audiences has changed from being one-way to two-ways.

Micro-blogs are similar to web logs in that anybody can post anything, but different because as the name implies, they are much smaller portions of text. Micro-blogging is intended to give followers quick, concise, newsworthy updates about something. Generally no more than 140 characters long, users can subscribe to different users’ posts. Followers read about updates from the micro-blogs they subscribe to in a compiled homepage. Many micro-blog services exist, but the most popular is called Twitter.

Social media has changed public relations, but perhaps for the better. Changes in PR can be noticed as a result of the influences of social media. Generic information dissemination practices will no longer be received well by reporters and consumers, as they once were. On the other hand, social media opens the door to new practices in an industry that could become stagnant in the future. These new media call for more creative, direct and transparent communication with the public; and it is important to remember that reaching the public is ultimately the goal of PR.

It is clear that social media is relevant to the public relations discussion as it is the new media of today, and will be the media of the future. PR professionals have to choose whether they will ignore the increasing significance of the new internet technologies or if they will take advantage of the incredible opportunities for success that are created by social media. Public relations will not fail because of these new technologies’ growth, but it could fail if traditional thinking impairs the vision of PR professionals who are unwilling to make the most of the new tools offered by social media. New media lend themselves to creating change in a particular way of thinking, and the field of public relations has the opportunity to prevail by embracing social media, and accepting the change.

Sources:
1. Arrington, M. The PR Roadblock on the Road to Blissful Blogging. Retrieved November 16, 2008 from http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/13/the-pr-roadblock-on-the-road-to-blissful-blogging/

2. Cain Miller, C. (2008, November 4). In Era of Blog Sniping, Companies Shoot First. The New York Times, B1.

3. Swisher, K. Is Social Media Killing PR? (Or Maybe Vice Versa?). Retrieved November 15, 2008 from http://kara.allthingsd.com/20081113/is-social-media-killing-pr-or-maybe-vice-versa/

Blog 13: New Media & Government Transparency

A more transparent government is on its way, with the implementation of many of the new media available. President Bush started this process by updating Whitehouse.gov with various new internet communication tools like RSS feeds, videos and podcasts (Vargas, J.A., 2008). President-elect Obama has already shown us during his presidential campaign that he plans to make use of new media; the technological innovations he brings to his presidency should push forward in this direction. The use of internet media in the government will help to create an open-dialogue atmosphere and hopefully make U.S. citizens more interested and involved in political affairs.

A few issues exist surrounding the use of internet media in the government. Mr. Obama’s campaign for presidency may have been the most high-tech in history, and he feels strongly about taking the White House to the next level in terms of new media use. Unfortunately, the President-elect will be limited in terms of his ability to use these communication tools; the Presidential Records Act requires all presidential correspondences to be in the public record and thus will not allow for privacy. No past presidents used e-mail, and it is unclear if Mr. Obama will be allowed to do so due to the private nature of e-mail (Zeleny, J., 2008). In a New York Times article a reporter notes, “for all the perquisites and power afforded the president, the chief executive of the United States is essentially deprived by law and by culture of some of the very tools that other chief executives depend on to survive and to thrive” (Zeleny, J., 2008). It is ironic to think that Mr. Obama built his campaign on the notion of “change” and the use of the internet, yet he might be restricted from using many of the tools in office that helped get him there.

While there will be security and political issues that may limit some of the new media used by Mr. Obama, he already has plans to employ the use of YouTube in office. Building upon President Roosevelt’s “fireside chats” during the Great Depression, President-elect Obama is promising weekly videotaped question and answer sessions to be posted on his Web site, change.gov, as well as his weekly YouTube address to the nation (Buchanan, M., 2008). He may not have total flexibility in the internet media used in the White House, but these are both great ways to start getting people more involved. Also, Mr. Obama’s campaign addressed an issue that all candidates face; how do we get young voters interested? By holding weekly addresses on YouTube, a forum that became popular amongst youth, he has already begun the process of retaining young people’s interest. Perhaps by using these new internet technologies during his presidency he will also start drawing prospective young voters’ attentions which future candidates could benefit from.

Political pundits debate whether or not making use of new media will really create transparency in the government. The truth is, whether the medium is print, radio, television, or videos streamed online, presidential materials will always contain spin. Messages from the White House are controlled public relations efforts and no matter who produces online content, it will have spin. By bringing cameras into the White House and streaming videos online, we may have an opportunity for less secrecy, but it will still be heavily edited. That being said, trying to connect with Americans in an innovative fashion is a step in the right direction. Online discussions in response to posted videos and other new internet media may gain the attention of local politicians and actually impact their decision making. People may feel more connected to the national government if they feel included; and new media allows for a stronger, more intimate relationship between citizens and government officials.

Sources:

1. Buchanan, M. (2008, November 14). Obama Will Deliver Weekly Fireside Chats. Message posted to the Gizmodo Web Log, archived at http://gizmodo.com/5087052/obama-will-deliver-weekly-youtube-fireside-chats

2. Vargas, J.A. (2008, November 14). The YouTube Presidency. Message posted to the washingtonpost.com Web Log, archived at http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/11/14/the_youtube_presidency.html

3. Zeleny, J. (2008, November 15). Say Goodbye to BlackBerry? Yes He Can, Maybe. The New York Times, p. A1.

Image from:

Buchanan, M. (2008, November 14). Obama Will Deliver Weekly Fireside Chats. Message posted to the Gizmodo Web Log, archived at http://gizmodo.com/5087052/obama-will-deliver-weekly-youtube-fireside-chats

Blog 11: virtual worlds not so virtual

After creating an account with Second Life, I spent a couple hours exploring the game. I walked, I flew and I swam threw the huge map that this online community inhabits. While for the majority of the time I spent ‘playing’ I was actually lost in what looked like Siberia, I eventually found my way back to civilization where I was able to meet people, enter their private homes, and witness interactions that may not have been just game play for those involved. For many, Second Life is not really a virtual world, but instead a reality.
For example, a family friend who lives in Canada works at a University fulltime, but is a musician in his free time. This friend has a Second Life account, and enjoys a unique ‘playing’ experience. Sometimes he holds gigs in Second Life coffee shops. These are not make-believe concerts, but actual live performances. He sets up his equipment in his real basement, records the show and streams it live over the internet to Second Life, where fans can listen to his music. Here’s the most incredible part about it: he’s actually making money—so much money that with it he was able to pay the mortgage (on his real house) for a month. In addition, the café owner is making a portion of his proceeds from the money that other ‘players’ are paying to hear said friend play. In fact, our friend has acquired an impressive following in the game that one might say he is becoming Second Life-famous. With stories like these, it is hard to believe that Second Life is only a game.
Other commodities are exchanged in virtual worlds, too. In an article written by Julian Dibbell titled, The Unreal Estate Boom, Dibbell discussed a delivery man who purchased a virtual home for $750—more than one week’s pay in real life. Other virtual items are also auctioned on eBay for real money; Dibbell estimates that these purchases total around $3 million per year collectively.
Another very real aspect of the virtual world for many users is interpersonal interactions. While exploring Second Life, I interacted with some other users. Often times I didn’t initiate this interaction, and half the time I didn’t even notice people’s comments to me. When I did notice them, the dialogue was very different than what I am used to in computer games. I grew up playing The Sims, and at the time I couldn’t believe that characters were able to talk to each other. When conversation boxes appeared with another Sim’s message, it was cool, but unreal. Yesterday when I spoke to other Second Life players, it was a little strange that other people actually developed those messages and sent them; they weren’t computer-generated. I even entered a person’s home in the middle of snowy-nowhere and the person made an inappropriate comment to my character (or avatar). In the Sims, it wouldn’t have been strange because the message was programmed into the computer; in Second Life it felt uncomfortable, partially because it was dark “outside” and I had no idea where I was, but also because this inappropriate message was actually developed by another person, intended to reach me. That is when I signed off and uninstalled the game from my computer, because it was just too real to be ‘play.’

Source:

Dibbell, J. The Unreal Estate Boom. Wired, 11(01).

Second Life. 2008. Retrieved November 7, 2008 from

Assignment 9: Blogs' Influence on Local Politics

Blogs do affect local politics in a profound way, and what is particularly interesting is that people who are politically active online are generally influential to their community in a variety of ways. In fact, a study conducted by the Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet showed that 69% of “Online Political Citizens,” or people who are politically active in online forums and discussions are “Influencers.” Influencers are described as opinion leaders and trendsetters among their respective friends and communities. The study also determined that of Online Political Citizens, only 44% of them were involved in politics in traditional ways (like attending rallies, donating money, etc.). Based on a number of qualifying indicators, a RoperASW study showed that Influencers have strong ties to their communities, offer their opinions to the public, and are in positions of local authority. This can explain the influential powers that these citizens have over their local politics (Political Influentials Online in the 2004 Presidential Campaign).
Because those that are politically active online involve themselves in community affairs, it makes sense that they would affect local politics as well. Therefore, people who blog are very likely to have an effect on the politics of their local communities. As Roll Call, a Washington D.C. political newspaper says, “[local political] blogs specialize in state or local political coverage, and while these smaller, non-national political blogs may not have the resources — financial or otherwise — of the well-known titans of the blogosphere, many are starting to gain a following, not to mention the respect of state and local media outlets and politicians” (Blogging Locally, 2005). Not only do such blogs affect the opinions of local citizens, but some of the more well-known and respected blogs may actually be influencing local politicians as well.
A blog local to Buffalo, The Buffalo Pundit (http://buffalopundit.wnymedia.net/blogs/) was created by a local lawyer, Alan Bedenko. He started blogging about politics in September of 2003 at a different location and under a different name (WNY for Wesley Clark, http://wny4clark.blogspot.com/). After Clark left the campaign, he started blogging about local affairs and launched the Buffalo Pundit soon after. The Pundit’s Technorati ranking is 107,824.
This blog is interactive in that there are many people commenting on it about postings, local issues as well as national politics. Bedenko covers a wide range of topics, but it is clear that people have civilized, informed discussions about how their feelings about these issues. Not only do readers seem to enjoy reading the blog posts, but it appears as if the readers are actually involved themselves. The discussions could possibly be the reason that many of the visitors read this blog at all. While the Pundit may not directly affect local politics, it may have an indirect influence in that it gets people debating topics that matter within the community. Perhaps some comments persuade readers by presenting a side that they hadn’t thought about before. Or perhaps people read the Pundit to become involved in local politics that they wouldn’t otherwise know about. There are many indirect affects that interactive blogs can have on a local community’s political activities.

Sources:
1. Bedenko, Alan. The Buffalo Pundit. Retrieved October 24, 2008, from http://buffalopundit.wnymedia.net/blogs/
2. Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet (2005). Political Influentials Online in the 2004 Presidential Campaign. Retrieved October 24, 2008, from, http://www.ipdi.org/UploadedFiles/political%20influentials.pdf
3. McArdle, John (2005, April). “Blogging Locally.” The Roll Call. Retrieved October 24, 2008 from, http://www.rollcall.com/issues/50_115/politics/9246-1.html

Assignment 7: Online Learning

Last semester I took my first online course at UB; it was a public relations class, and the instructor was a professor who was on sabbatical. All of my “lectures” and exams were administered in Blackboard online, and a discussion forum existed where we would post assignments, and have the opportunity to comment on fellow classmates’ work. As a way to account for participation, the instructor noted how often students posted in the discussion forum. While this online format did support discussions, it was a very different communication pattern than a regular class might experience.

For example, our first assignment was to post a press release announcing our enrollment into the course, under the “Discussion Board.” This activity was designed to be an introduction to one another, where we could read about our classmates and ‘get to know each other,’ so to speak. In an online format, getting to know classmates is done very mechanically; students seek out information about other students and then leave comments for them via the discussion board. Responses are delayed and permanently recorded. In an offline class, human interactions are very different; people speak to the group usually as a whole, whereas online communicators generally have to be more direct to make up for a lack of non-verbal cues present in live conversations, like eye contact, for example. Also, it is much easier for the instructor to calculate participation grades as students’ online interactions are recorded permanently; the instructor can count at the end of the semester exactly how many times students commented in the discussion forum. Research shows that student learning in internet-mediated courses is related to the quantity and quality of postings in online discussions, and also the value that the instructor places on this type of interaction (Jiang & Ting, 2000). For this reason, I think that online discussion forums are critical for developing a sense of community in distance learning.

According to John Reid, Coordinator of Distance Education Technology at Kennesaw State University, “virtual education” can be defined as, “the study of credit and non credit courses from world-wide remote sites that are neither bound by time or physical location.” Reid says, “A big part of computer-mediated education is making the student more responsible for self-learning. Instructors in the online environment facilitate, leaving the student to find their own way. Some students like the idea of having an instructor meeting and leading class discussion with them at a regular time. In the virtual classroom students and instructors come and go at all hours. Some learners are sure to discover that this form of communication is difficult for them. How well they do at learning on their own will have a significant bearing on performance.”

I agree with Reid in that a student’s success in an online course depends on how much responsibility they take for their own learning. I remember it being difficult to remember to check the UB Learns Web site to be sure I caught any posted updates. In a traditional course, students would theoretically meet multiple times per week to receive any updates about the course—this lack of regular meetings makes it easier to disconnect from the class, and as a result miss assignments.

The ability to hear a lecture and ask the professor questions was something I missed when taking my online class. Another factor that affects students’ performance in distance learning is their learning style. Distance learning is great for some students because they don’t need to be sitting in class to grasp the material. I found that by just reading the notes posted online by the instructor, I was not able to comprehend the materials as well as I do when I hear the lecture, and see examples. I was also uncomfortable not knowing anyone in the class that I could ask questions about the homework to; I realized after taking this course how much I rely on my fellow students for clarifications and feedback. I think it’s important to have interactions with classmates about material as it seems to be an important part of learning.

Sources:
1. Swan, Karen. 2004. Relationships between Interactions and Learning in Online Environments. Kent State University: The Sloan Consortium.

2. Reid, J. E. What Every Student Should Know About Online Learning. Retrieved October 9, 2008, from University of Illinois, Illinois Online Network Web site: http://www.ion.illinois.edu/Resources/tutorials/overview/reid.html

Blog 6: Identity and AIM

When I was in elementary school and first started exploring the internet I mainly used AOL Instant Messenger. My parents were weary of me communicating with potential strangers via this new technology, but understood that I was interested in talking to my friends online, so allowed me to do so with somewhat close monitoring. They imposed regulations on my screen name choice after hearing that my cousin had chosen a rather provocative name for a 12 year-old: “bikinibabe02”. The rules were that I could not use any part of my name in my screen name, nor was I allowed to use any suggestive language, like that of my cousin’s. After many shot-down requests, I finally settled on “beachball66,” which didn’t give strangers or 10 year-old boys for that matter any images, but still had the word, “beach” in it.
Being that this was my first experience with online identities, I totally ate it up. Kids were judged by the cleverness of their screen names and their online personas formed based on their interactions. Another rule by which I had to abide in order to talk online was the amount of time I spent doing so. I had one hour per day to chat online, which at the time seemed like minutes compared to some of my friends who would never sign off. Those who spent more time online developed a better sense of one another’s online identities. Eventually, the distinctions between people’s online and in-person identities began to corrode. People’s online reputations developed based on a number of different factors: their popularity in school, the name they chose to represent themselves by, the types of interactions they had, and with whom they interacted.
The day that a new online popularity measure was developed became a nightmare for any popularity-conscious pre-teenage girl. AIM Fight measured people’s online popularity by calculating how many different people’s buddy lists an individual was on. In addition, your score would depend on the people’s buddy lists you were on, for three degrees. So, your popularity would be greatly affected by being on the buddy list of a person who was on many other people’s buddy lists, but not affected much by being on an un-popular person’s buddy list. For a better explanation, see http://aimfight.com/whatisaimfight.php. With AIM Fight, my online reputation was no longer only known to me; anyone who knew my screen name could see my popularity score. Obviously, as a competitive pre-teen I became obsessed with checking my ranking against my friends’. Our reputations had been degraded from being formed based on character judgment to being formed by a silly computer-generated popularity-ranking technology.

After the trauma caused by AIM Fight had eventually dissipated, incidents occurred where my friends were getting a hold of each other’s AIM passwords. As many mischievous, curiosity seeking teenagers might do, kids were getting together at one house and posing as another person. All sorts of likely inaccurate information was exchanged, and we used this as a means to finding out all of the latest classroom juice: who was crushing on who, and so forth. The potential reputation damage this behavior could have and probably at times did cause, was extreme. What is astounding is that despite the fact that kids were assuming others’ identities to gossip, we still trusted one another’s online personas. I know that personally, I was more guarded about who I spoke to and what about after I was made aware these activities, but the fact that we all still trusted these identities is unbelievable to me now. We were young, but we had no way of knowing for sure whether or not people were being truthful. I imagine that this is the reason many people trust strangers: they want them to be who they say they are, and there is no way of knowing for sure.

Source:

AIM Fight. (1998). [Graphic representation of three degrees of AIM Fight]. Retrieved from http://aimfight.com/whatisaimfight.php

Assignment 5: Privacy

I think that having internet privacy means that I have complete control over the information that others have about me, via the internet. In an ideally private world, only those who I have granted permission to would have personal details about me. With computers’ abilities to remember information about people, and the ease at which some computers can be hacked into, it is easier than ever to receive unauthorized information about someone.
Http cookies, for example are bits of information that are stored on people’s computers to monitor their browsing habits. While cookies were not originally intended to be used for criminal purposes, they have become useful to those who are trying to find indentifying information about computer users. Users are typically not aware of these cookies tracking their activities on the computer, and then sending personal information back to the cookie’s creator. One way that people can better control things like cookies and phishing is by clearing their internet activity history. This is still not a foolproof method, but luckily many firewalls block cookies from being stored on computers as to prevent the consequences of compromised privacy.
There are many consequences of compromised privacy, some of which can be serious problems. The ultimate fear of most people I imagine is identity theft. If a personal computer with a large amount of data about someone is somehow hacked into, it is most frequently done using the internet. That information can then be dispersed to many others for statistical use, which while it may bother some, is less of a problem than identity theft. If a person receives identifying data about another person through saved information on a computer, their identity could be stolen, which would lead to a long road of complications.
Although identity theft does frighten me, I am more concerned about the information that the government can obtain about citizens. While most people have nothing to hide, being tracked is an uneasy feeling, nevertheless. I know that anything I do on my computer can be monitored by the government, and I don’t believe that should be allowed, unless a person convicted of a serious crime is under investigation.
There are even ways that privacy is breeched that are not nearly as secretive or scandalous as issues such as identity theft via online computer hacking or phishing. As an MSNBC article argues, there are plenty of times that a person’s private information is obtained simply because of their internet activity. Online banking and purchasing are two essentially easy ways of obtaining information about anther. It may not be the neighborhood computer hacker looking through your latest bank statement; it could be someone as “innocent” as your boyfriend browsing your records stored on the computer. This is scary because it goes to show that you never know who has access to your private information when there is so much readily available electronically.
An incident that a friend of mine experienced recently deals with the issue of surveillance. As Wikipedia defines surveillance, this occurs when someone’s behavior is observed from a distance, usually by means of electronic equipment. A friend was in his apartment moving furniture around when he observed a hidden camera behind a chair. Being unaware of how the camera was placed there, or who placed it there, he called the police. The police investigated the situation and discovered many similar instances in the nearby area, but they were still unable to identify the surveyor. This was an uneasy situation for my friend—he felt as if he had been monitored doing private things in his own home, but he didn’t know who and how many people were watching. The camera images were likely streamed over the internet to an observer’s computer. Privacy is important to people, but with the invention of technology, it is being compromised more and more.

Sources:
Internet privacy. (2008, September 25). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 19:36, September 26, 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Internet_privacy&oldid=241019362
Sullivan, B. (October 10, 2006). Privacy Lost: Does Anyone Care? MSNBC.com. Retrieved from www.msnbc.com
Surveillance. (2008, September 25). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 19:36, September 26, 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Surveillance&oldid=240844724