Social Media and PR - Everyone’s a Potential Publisher

The digital revolution has significantly changed how businesses interact with their stakeholders and consequences the PR industry has faced as a result of this development. For PR practitioners and Internet marketers, social media has been extremely successful in driving potential customers to their online sights, and is still considered one of the biggest innovations since the 90’s Dot Com Boom. It is not only younger generations developing reliance’s on social media but business such as Coca-Cola using networks to communicate and reach audiences to gain effective publicity. Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) define social media as "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, which allows the creation and exchange of user-generated content."

Social media is changing the way business is run. PR has adapted and evolved to these huge modifications in today’s Internet age however the biggest fundamental for any organisation is to make profitable use of these networks. Popular social mediums include YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Myspace. Practitioners have made adaptations by immersing their company in the culture of the social web and building connections to enhance their online profile. The video below additionally highlights the importance of networks and key attributes of social media that could enhance in the PR industry.

In April 2010 CIPR President Jay O'Connor announced: “A core theme in our three-year strategic plan is social media and the impact on the public relations profession. Rob joined the CIPR board to lead our efforts in this area, feeding into our policy, research and training. As part of this, Rob has set up the Social Media Panel - a group of some of the UK's foremost social media contributors, who will debate and input, ensuring our guidance reflects the very best thinking and practice. Things are moving quickly. Reaching out to practitioners who can offer their insight so that we can guide our members and the profession appropriately is key.”

In August 2010 Coca- Cola were awarded ‘No. 1 Social Media Company in Japan among Consumers’. Coca-Cola is the leading beverage company and one of the largest advertisers in the world. This multinational corporation has committed to using social media strategies and dedicated a generous proportion of their budget for advertising to the rising trend. As well as an impressive Facebook page, blog and Twitter account, Coca-Cola has recently launched a new website titled Coke Zone that offers product buyers exclusive rewards. With this, Coca-Cola has wisely integrated both online and offline communication strategies.

Ethical implications to Social Media

Social media is not too dissimilar to that of print in the sense that you still need to target a particular audience and build interest although online media is moving at a far quicker pace. Here are a couple of statistics to put this into perspective:

To reach 50 million viewers.....

Radio took 38 years

Television took 13 years

The Internet took 4 years

The Apple i pod took 3 years 

BUT Facebook gathered 100 million viewers in just 9months!!

Social media has no time restrictions and allows breaking news to spread worldwide in a matter of seconds from millions of different sources. The Internet has enabled everyone to become a potential publisher but does this limit the accuracy of information read online? However as social media requires participation and communication, it can lead to huge ethical issues regarding both privacy and security of individuals conversing online.The video below demonstrates how social media can consequently have a negative effect.