Issues in PR conclusion

The last day, the last hours of the Theory and Issues in PR module. In fact the classes ended on the 24th of March, but from then and until now we had the opportunity to revise everything we have learned during this course and to continue our blogs.

This is my last post for this class but hopefully not for PR profession. And here I would like to sum up what is written in my blog.

Public Relations is the art and science of establishing relationships between a company and its audience. It plays a key role in creating communication channels between these players and in spreading the message across people. such interaction is supposed to be a two-way mutually beneficial dialogue resulting in particular public actions. This is the good side.

However PR has a doubtful side: propaganda, spinning, fiction, manipulation, ethics and moral issues, "window-dressing" through CSR and NGO, women's discrimination, transparency and authenticity etc.

In addition to this the "bad" side of PR is the loss of people's trust, critique and an undermined reputation.

Truthful and devoted to the profession practitioners still struggle hard to improve and "lift" the face of PR. Using new technologies, new media, new global opportunities, new advocates and new "brains" these fighters are moving towards people's interests, ethically and legislatively regulated activities, charitable and socially responsible deeds and of course towards a good name.

In conclusion I'd like to say that PR is an essential part of our everyday life. Every single person is introducing and promoting him/herself to others, is doing his/her own PR even without realising it. PR professionals help people communicate, have a dialogue, say their opinions, concerns, share their information and experience and so forth. What could happen if PR didn't exist? There would have definitely been an analogue to this profession. Nonetheless people's feedback, evaluation and analysis are crucial for its reputation and existence.

It is not truth that this profession has almost died out - there are plenty of new ways and opportunities for development, it is just important to look attentively around, understand people's needs and create.

PR 2.0 & Authenticity

Good evening, my dear reader!

The book PR 2.0: New Media, New Tools, New Audiences by Deirdre Breakenridge (2008) made me think over the authenticity of PR messages transmitted online.

The author speaks of “viral marketing as the “Word of Mouth” of the Internet”. He also calls it “Astroturfing” on the Internet”, giving the term a Wikipedia explanation - “fake grassroots support online”.

Converting this to PR it means that a lot of information published online can be inaccurate. The reason for that is the increased number of user-generated content articles and self-publishing platforms that enable individuals to expose virtually every “truth” that they want to share. So it is really easy to get lost in all this mass of data and to define which is correct and which is more of a personal users ideas and thoughts.

My premise is that in the world of Web 2.0 the function of PR practitioners has changed. It now requires more skills and duties from them and the ones that I’m talking about in this post are: sharing authentic and transparent information, creating word of mouth and building relationships of trust with communities.

For other new skills follow the link below:
http://www.theharteofmarketing.com/2009/07/pr-20-will-double-your-workload.html

And for more information on importance of authenticity in a virtual world have a look at those articles:
Social media: Being authentic in a virtual world
PR has never been truly authentic

PR & New Media

Good afternoon to everybody!

While thinking through this topic I got curious about "What was first - the egg or the chicken?", or according to named terms: "PR 2.0 or new media?"
Which of the two was the stimulus for the creation of the other? And what were the reasons for that?

I raised these questions due to that every online activity, each message or e-mail are in fact Web self-presentation or, in other words, self-promotion and PR. That gave me the following idea: when PR professionals started to communicate with their clients through e-mails, they might have thought of a need to create a similar online tool that could help them reach masses of people who are not yet their customers. Is it possible that the development of social media was requested or was it the ITs, though, who made up new social media tools for people’s eased interaction?

However when new media appeared people began to subscribe to social networks, create accounts in blogs etc. for free in order to communicate with their friends, to post their thoughts and so forth. All this can happen under one single condition – to make a bit of personal information available to providers of the new services. Consequently these sites get no money from people. The only profit they may receive comes from advertising spaces sales. Their treasure is the information they get from people. These tons of data can be sold to access consumers and to send them tailored messages. On one hand, it is very useful for PR practitioners but, on the other, it is very similar to speculation of personal information without people’s agreement (BUT once more, it is definitely worth it for PR’s messages to be delivered to potential consumers).