Social Media and the future of Public Relations

Though unwise to predict the future in general, it is foolish to do so in a world that is forever changing due to technological advancements. Nonetheless, it is possible to anticipate the future relationship of social media and public relations by researching past and current trends (Wilcox & Cameron, 2009). Bianca and Ashleigh S. have both examined the idea that social media has recently influenced public relations professionals to re-examine publics, and thus traditional communication methods. However I believe we need to take a step back and understand the process as to why this trend has occurred. I wish to clarify the definition of social media, and why it has it has influenced the future of public relations.

Social media can be described as the online technologies and practices that enable people to share information, content, experiences, insights and perspectives (Weinberg, 2009). Over the past few years as the Internet has shifted from an informational to social medium, social media has become increasingly significant in the both the online and offline world. Examples of social media include blogs, forums, message boards, social networking sites, social bookmarking, picture sharing, video sharing, wikis and podcasts. These user-generated tools have broken down the geographic walls that had once divided individuals and have reunited like-minded people all over the world. So what does this mean for Public Relations?

These web-based tools operate on a high degree of user participation and user generation of content. This essentially provides publics with a platform to express their opinions and experiences freely to millions of people worldwide (Weber, 2009). The introduction of social media has been a daunting prospect for most public relations professionals as publics now readily posses the tools to demote a particular product, brand or company almost instantly. As communication and public relations students we can understand that communicating to publics is based heavily through media outlets, arguably suggesting that public relations is foremost about media relations than actual public relations. However the development of social media has put a spin on this idea. Public relations professionals who once purely focused on managing media content are now facing the management of public generated content, hence putting the public back into public relations.

David touched on an interesting concept that in order for social media to be putting the public back into public relations, one point the public and public relations had to be separate. Though he disagrees on this idea, I would like to argue otherwise. Whilst I don’t believe they have ever been completely separated (as public relations would otherwise be extinct), I do believe that the introduction of mass media forced publics to become distant from public relations. Lets take a look at Grunig and Hunt’s four models of public relations.

• Press agentry model – persuasion through publicity and celebrities. Accuracy and credibility is not important.
• Public information model – distribution of organisational information through one-way communication methods e.g. press releases. Accuracy is important
• One-way asymmetrical model - persuasion and influence to manipulate the audience attitudes rather than the organisation. Research undertaken but not acknowledged.
• Two-way symmetrical model – Research and collaboration with audiences to review organisational practices. Dialogue, not monologue.

The first three models are based on the idea of one-way communication, which aim to disseminate information to publics via media outlets. While all these models note the existence of publics, they operate more on the idea of managing media to reach publics rather than directly managing publics. Where as the two-way symmetrical model promotes the use of communication to negotiate, resolve conflict and promote mutual understandings amongst publics (Wilcox & Cameron, 2009), which is essentially is the purpose of social media. Social media is about participation and collaboration hence the reason as to why public relations professionals are now moving away from one-way communication models and are embracing the two-way symmetrical model. Thus reuniting publics with public relations.

Though this debate could continue, I think now that we have acknowledged social media has put the public back into publics relations we should consider the future prospects. Social media is still in its developmental stage and with constant technological advances it is uncertain what the future holds. Such ambiguity asks me to questions such as: Do we continue to use traditional communication methods in this social sphere? How do we adapt our practices to develop a positive online presence? And is there the possibility that social media could bring the end to public relations?

Lastly I would like to encourage everyone to check out the official facebook page for the book, Putting the Public Back in Public Relations: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Putting-the-Public-Back-in-Public-Relations/138575275211?ref=ts It has some great links to articles and other blogs that are exploring the same topical issues as us.

Ashleigh McLennan

Weber, L. (2009). Marketing to the Social Web: How Digital Customer Communities Build Your Business. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.

Weinberg, T. (2009). The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web. California: O'Reily Media.

Wilcox, D & Cameron G (2009) Public relations: Strategies and tactics (9th Ed) USA: Pearson