Social Media on Public Relations Profession Worldwide - Research Paper Example

? Social Media on Public Relations Profession Worldwide Social Media on Public Relations Profession Worldwide Social media is a form of electronic communication through which individuals from different parts of the world are allowed to interact and share their experiences, information and ideas without having to physically present while communicating with the intended audiences. There are different forms of social a media and the prominent ones are face book, twitter, Wikipedia, linkedin and Reddit. Public relations can be described as an activity or job where in sequence about the activities of an organization to the public so as to have good image. Public relation main priority is to provide goodwill to induce the public perception towards them (Noor & Hendricks, 2012). It is estimated that the number of individuals using the social media has been increasing over the years and that in the year 2012; the number was 1.43 billion people. Before the advent of social media, usernets were being used as alternatives of social media. They were first invented in the 1979 by Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis. They were used in permitting persons to posts articles for people to read on the internet. Secondly, were the BBSs (Bulleting Board Systems) which were invented in the late seventy century. They allowed users to log in and interact with the other although it had limitations. Thirdly, were the online services which were made the internet more universal to individuals in the United States. Fourthly, was the IRC,ICQ and instant messaging which was developed in the 1989 and allowed for sharing and keeping in touch with others within the society. Then there were the earliest forms of social networks which were the dating sites. They were invented when people migrated to the online world. It was then followed by forums which acted as a precursor to the social web. They came with a user friendly interface making it easier for users to use. Six degrees then followed the forums in 1997and it was the first modern social network. It permitted consumers to create profiles and make friends with others in the society. This was then followed by AsianAvenue which was created between 1997 and 2001. They permitted users to create their profiles and add new friends. However, they had few innovations features imbedded in them. Live Journal was the next in line. It was invented in 1999 and allowed users to create static profiles and was build around blogs. Last to mark these developments and usher in the major social advances was world of warcraft. The period that followed this was marked by major advances in social networking and they were friendster, Hi5, linkedIn, MySpace, Face book among others. The Users of Social Media There are numerous social media users who register for the different available sites under different names and profiles. The breed of social media personalities varies depending with the reasons on which they join the sites. There are those users known as the ultras who have addiction of checking new feeds dozen times a day. Secondly, the dippers are known to have social media accounts but check their pages irregularly and go for days or weeks without even posting a comment or replying to a post (Straubhaar, LaRose & Davenport, 2012). Thirdly, are the deniers who think that social media do not control their lives, but becomes anxious when they are not able to access the internet. Fourthly, are the virgins who are known to take first cautious steps to the social media. Fifthly, are the Lurkers who are always keen on what others are sharing or saying, but rarely responds to the talks. They normally hide in the shadows of cyberspace as they do not want their identity revealed or noticed by those who actively participate in the social media. Sixthly, the peacocks are users of social media who have a high number of followers or fan and are known to actively participate in social media conversation through their re-tweets and likes (Deuze, 2011). Seventhly, are the ranters who are known to be highly opinionated and meek in their conversations when replying to post and making arguments on points. Eighthly, are the changelings who hide their personalities under their profiles on social media sites to prevent people from knowing their identity? Ninthly, are the ghost who are known to create profiles which are not known as they fear sharing their personal information with strangers who have subscribed for social media services. Lastly, are the informers who are known to seek attention by being the first to post latest happenings and stuff to audiences in the social media? The Development of PR to Cope With Social Media The development of PR to cope with social media was necessitated because social media actively contributed in the field of public relations as it helped individuals’ more so companies to keep the public updated about their activities and market their sales thus receiving instant feedback from the audiences regarding their image and products. The development of PR has provided people with an opportunity to see the impact of social media on various professions and professionals in the work place and this has been made possible to the public relation profession through such channels like websites and social networking. Moreover, the PR professionals are trying to cope with flood of social media in the workplace as it globalised the job demands enabling individuals to work all hours despite their current positions and location. Social media has also increased the jobs that are available to the public as thousands of individuals have been employed to work for the numerous social media companies (Brown, 2009). This has led to new workforce where individuals have been employed to teach social media skills and manage social media sites for the different user personalities and companies present in the industry. The need for PR has therefore been enforced into the industry as it is fast growing company where new jobs are created and there is a pressing need to highlight the image of the industry to the concerned stakeholders and the public so as to earn their trust (Biagi, 2012). PR has also been successful to a large extent in highlighting the pros and cons present in the social media industry and has come up with ways to improve the cons so as to encourage and increase the number of individuals who are subscribed into the social media sites. It has also made work for individuals working for the social media industry and those who have subscribed for its services flexible as it has increased their job and user satisfaction (Seib, 2008). In addition, the development of PR has also witnessed a turn in the acceptance of social media sites as they have received interest from different groups as it has created awareness among the users and the public of the roles and services being offered by the company. The Social Media in the Middle East (Arab World) and the Effect of It on PR The social media in the Middle East has greatly impacted on the PR within the region. The events in the Middle East a year ago was largely influenced by social media. Citizens marveled at the power of digital technology that was in form of social media. The individual who inspired the Arab spring used social media as a tool to create awareness among the citizens and stir the audiences to stand up for their rights against dictators in the region. As noted, social changes took a long time to occur in the region; however the presence of new technology and social media increased the pace through which these changes were experienced in the region (Pollack, 2011). Social media was simply part of the process that had much deeper roots in the region as it enabled individuals to manifest their courage and realize the changes they had so long wished for in their system. Individuals who were participating in the region took social media as an avenue though which they aired debates on the revolutionary changes and the status of the current system they were being governed from. Moreover, social media was used in the Middle East to spread democratic ideals to different parts of the continent. Individuals were encouraged through social media to increase the flames of social media which was started by brave individuals in the region. Since social media is out of control of the government censorship, citizens in the region used it to execute, plan and organize protest against the existing political system while at the same time maintaining unity among them. Moreover, the authorities in the region considered this was unlawful, but had little they could since citizens found a virtual space where they could gather and openly criticize the system in place. This was because they were covered under the shadows of social media and the authorities could neither reach nor identify them (Korany, 2010). Social media was thus used in the Middle East to diffuse the normal government control in the region and there many unsuccessful attempts by the government to put a stop to it. Attempts that were made to shut of the internet and networks resulted to more severe protest that led to their unification on their streets thus openly and courageously sharing their oppositions and ideologies (Phillips & Young, 2009). In addition, social media provided a new language to the citizens in the region as they were able to create narrative conversation geared towards politicizing individuals to take a different wave of revolution which would see the system which was considered discriminative ousted. The media also used social media as an alternative voice where they freely aired their voices without the authorities noticing and inspiring protestors within the region while watching the reaction of the outside world (Heath, 2010). The Role of E-PR ePR is also known as digital pubic relations. Its role is as follows: Control gossip To track player approaches and eTactics To generate a synergy between an business and its publics To construct a conversation between an organization and its publics To merge an organization’s image To have a say to online predicament management Conclusion In conclusion, the consequences of the emergence of new media are a process that is still happening in the society. There are numerous emerging media demands that are still in the process of being discovered, therefore, social media has along way to go in this contemporary society. In addition, the increase in the media demands are also encouraging an increase in the demand of public relations and immense concern has been laid in this field as new innovations are still being researched to harmonize the numerous demands of the media. The new media will affect the evaluation of the challenges that have been present in the public relations field since further research will be conducted to determine the technological knowledge of individuals as the knew form of media will be requiring new skills from individuals to accurately handle the new innovations which will be cropping within the society. Public relations officers will therefore require in completing the task of harmonizing the new form of media with the audiences so as to assure them that they are indeed accurate and efficient. As years pass by, the public relations career will therefore look more lucrative to other audiences who will in turn flood it with the prospects of seeking greener pastures. In sum, social media has quickened the pace at which communication takes place because it has allowed information to be shared to a large section of the population simultaneously, and feedback received immediately. An example is face book which has bee used for various advertising purposes to a large population in a country. The access of information has also been improved by social media as individuals are nowadays not forced to buy newspaper to read information. They can just tweet or search for the latest information they want via social sites and also gets notifications of recent happenings in the society through different social media sites. Social media has also played a significant role in improving the quality and efficiency of PR as it a has driven them into competition because all of them are striving hard to be the first amongst those who present information in faster way, and this can be done through social media in less than ninety characters. References Noor, A.-D. H. S., & Hendricks, J. A. (2012). Social media: Usage and impact. Lanham, Md: Lexington Books. Straubhaar, J. D., LaRose, R., & Davenport, L. (2012). Media now: Understanding media, culture, and technology. Boston, MA: Wadsworth/Cengage Learning. Biagi, S. (2012). Media/impact: An introduction to mass media. Australia: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. Deuze, M. (2011). Managing media work. Thousand Oaks, Calif: SAGE. Heath, R. L. (2010). The SAGE handbook of public relations. Los Angeles: SAGE Publications. Brown, R. (2009). Public relations and the social web: How to use social media and Web 2.0 in communications. London: Kogan Page. Phillips, D., & Young, P. (2009). Online public relations: A practical guide to developing an online strategy in the world of social media. London: Kogan Page Singh, S., & Diamond, S. (2012). Social media marketing for dummies. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. Seib, P. M. (2008). The Al Jazeera effect: How the new global media are reshaping world politics. Washington, D.C: Potomac Books. Pollack, K. M. (2011). The Arab awakening: America and the transformation of the Middle East. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution. Korany, B. (2010). The changing Middle East: A new look at regional dynamics. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press. Read More