Electronic and Internet Public Relations - Essay Example

Public Relations (PR) have two basic functions – one is to produce and disseminate messages to the publics, and stakeholders through multi media channels (Hurme, 2001). The other task involves planning and execution of communication strategies. Because of the advances in information and communications technology, a new audience has arisen which is used to the instantaneous speed and global reach of the internet. The emphasis has shifted away from mass communication and towards interactional communication. The internet satisfies the demand for two-way, interactive, and symmetrical communications (Jo & Jung, 2005). It has now become a necessity to integrate computer-mediated communication (CMC) with the PR mix of an organization. In the field of PR, internet makes it possible to communicate with various key constituencies without the message being altered by the media. The traditional channels are eliminated and direct communication with the audience is possible. The proliferation of the internet has allowed easier and faster access to information by the people as more than 50% homes in the US and the UK are internet-connected (Holtz, 2006). The internet has moved beyond a one-way channel for information and the speed of the internet, interactivity and the crossing of national borders make it highly attractive to public relations practitioners as a communication strategy tool (Hurme, 2001). Internet is different from World Wide Web (WWW) because in the WWW it is possible to place the advertising material like the company balance sheets or annual reports or new releases (Jo & Jung, 2005). WWW can be used as a distribution channel to reduce or eliminate distribution costs for products. Consumers can browse through the website and extract information before purchasing a product or service but this is only a one-way communication. The Web has been bifurcated into three different braches due to the social and technological changes that have taken place. These include the reference web which typically gives out information to the surfers, the collaborative web – through which the users share information and becomes a publisher on the net. The third is the broadband web which has turned the web into an audio and video venue (Holtz, 2006). Internet has thus been exploited in different ways to build and enhance the PR that an organization wants to build. Internet as a tool for PR can enhance media relations, employee communication, government relations and customer relations, due to its interactive function (Jo & Jung, 2005). The only goal of the PR practitioners is to gain the attention of the publics through all possible means. Organizations have grown large and they need to builds relationships with their customers, the employees, the media and the other stakeholders. Each of the stakeholders wants to have an engaging relationship with the organization and internet provided this channel (Holtz, 2006). Social software has allowed networked people to publish, interact and collaborate with ease. Internal communication has been enhanced with the social software. Through the use of RSS, blogs, wikis, podcasting and social tagging (Holtz, 2006), organizations have been able to enhance internal and external communication with the stakeholders. These serve as excellent platforms for developing and maintaining PR with the customers, media and the publics. Organizations are aware that consumers are turning to CMC to extract information on which to base their decisions. Consumers build their own communities to share information and exchange experiences as these are seen as more objective information sources. These social groups are known as virtual communities who interact regularly in a routinised way over the internet (Casaló, Flavián & Guinalíu, 2008). Virtual communities satisfy four types of consumer needs: sharing resources, establishing relationships, trading and living fantasies. Through virtual communities it has become possible to overcome the time and space barriers to communication. It binds every individual to the other community members and there is a moral commitment among the community members. Tesco, the giant UK retailer, has been effectively using this concept of virtual community as a PR Tool. iVillage, a website owned by Tesco, offers free advice to women on health, beauty, work and leisure (Flavián & Guinalíu, 2005). Most of the information on this site is from other users and the management has been successful in involving the members of the community. While this has allowed the company to segment its target customers, iVillage has had precise and positive impact on the publics with specific needs and high purchase potential. There are over two million users of this website every month which demonstrates the degree of awareness that this virtual community has been bale to create. For PR practitioners this has simplified the process of communication because an emotional link is formed between the members. the consumers of iVillage recognize the company’s commitment to the problems and needs of the female publics and this has led to a better marker image and product differentiation for Tesco against its competitors. Web 2.0 is the second generation of web-based services and tools that emphasize online sharing collaboration among users. The web pages are now dynamic and organized and based on serving web applications to users. It is now a platform that enables or delivers Web based services to users, independent of the computer they use and information can freely flow in and out of the web services (James, 2007). Social media applications refer to the online practices and technologies that people use to share files, content, insights, experiences, perspective and media themselves. Social media can be in the form of text, images, audio and video and the social media site have tools like tools like message boards, forums, podcasts, bookmarks, communities, wikis, weblogs (Young, 2007). Social media sites are better tools, allow far wider reach and provide easier access to information in everyday language. Weblogs or blogs have produced immediate results as it aids link-sharing (Ireland, 2004). A generic search term can be incorporated into the referral links and this has a profound effect. People judge an offer based on who has linked them and they also give importance to the words used. Here the importance lies in selecting the right target audience so that the message does not get lost. Human beings have a vital role in the spread of ideas, information and trends (Borderstores, n.d.). Ideas, trends and social behavior spread through and among people like wildfire. PR practitioners can post videos on YouTube and then employ agents to spread the buzz about the intended message through social networks (SD, 2008). This technique is being used by the fastest growing companies but the PR practitioners have to ensure that the message is right because it can also lead to negative publicity. Because of these different platforms generated by the internet, an organization can remain connected to its audience. The communication channel is no more a pipeline but a network (Ranchhod, Gurãu & Lace, 2002) and this network has closed the gap between the institution and the audience. Companies like General Motors maintain their own blogs because it has become important to know and understand the voice of the customer. Keeping pace with the ever-changing customer demands has become imperative and social networking sites like blogs allow the organizations to understand the customer wants. In the hotel industry social media such as consumer-generated media (CGM) serves as a PR platform because what is being posted on the social media could be useful for the large chain hotels especially if they are associated with their guest service program (Salerno, 2007). All of these spaces are known as public spaces and since they lack walls, messages and information can spread quickly. The text can easily be manipulated and despite the latest development to protect and provide security, every digital wall has been destroyed by new technologies (Boyd, 2007). In addition, a community member can pour scorn over bad buying experience and the message spreads like wild fire (BCS, 2006). Thus it can be seen that internet has become a tool for developing and maintaining PR for an organization. It has become very simple to reach a wide range of audience at virtually no cost and have interactions with them. Merely the WWW was not interactive but today the web pages too have become dynamic, allowing every individual to participate in the messages. Virtual communities are an excellent platform for PR professionals because the members form an emotional binding with each other as well as with the product/organization. The consumers feel that the organization cares for them and it allows the organization to remain connected to its customers. Other social media platforms like blogs, wikis, podcasting and videos too have their own benefits. It helps the company to what the customer wants and to understand how to enhance the corporate image. User-generated content bring in more users or consumers as people are more inlfuneced by what a user of a product has to say than by what the producer has to say for his own product. However, just as these platforms spread a positive word, they also spread a negative word like wildfire. Besides, since anybody can say just anything, or manipulate what others have said, caution needs to be exercised. Despite the drawback, these new platforms are techniques that an organization has to employ and use them as a PR tool for the organization. References BCS, 2007, Social network sites - An SME business opportunity, retrieved online June 8, 2009 from http://www.bcs.org/server.php?show=ConWebDoc.8451 Boyd, D 2007, Social Network Sites: Public, Private, or What? 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Jo, S & Jung, J 2005, A cross-cultural study of the world wide web and public relations, Corporate Communications: An International Journal, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 24.40 Young, AE 2007, Social Media Marketing and the Hotel Industry, retrieved online June 8, 2009 from http://www.4hoteliers.com/4hots_fshw.php?mwi=2351 Read More