This chapter aims to understand emerging a media concepts and theories, appreciate the impact of technologyon public elations practices, and after you read this chapter you are able to identify te challenges new media pose for the public relations professions, and consider the use of social media to develop opportunities for dialogue and two-way and multiway communication.
What is New Media? it is term meant to encompass the emergence of digital, computerized, or networked information and communication technologies in the later part of the 20th century. Most technologies described as "new media" are digital, often having characterisitc of being manipulated, newtworkable, dense, compressible, interactive, and impartial. Some examples may be the internet, websites, computer multimedia, computer games and DVDs. It is not television programs, feature films, magazines, books, or paper-based publications.
The exponential rate of technological change that has transformed media and communication structures globally is reflected in the degree of attention paid to the convergent media nexus by the international community. With the rapid growth of new media technology including the Internet, interactive television networks, and multimedia information services, many proponents emphasize their potential to increase interactive mass media, entertainment and education.
In the past decade, search engines have turned the Web into an enormous user-driven and non linear repository of information. Instead of the information source dictating how information is presented and consumed, the user is in charge. Unfortunately, public relations practitioners have generally failed to grasp how this revolutionary change can be leveraged. Instead, most organization Web sites continue to mimic corporate brochures and still take a sequential approach to presenting their information.
I think, a great example of how everyone can have a voice and everyone can be part of the conversation is Wikipedia, the popular online encyclopedia completely generated, edited and updated by Web users. Not only is Wikipedia a great channel for getting your organizations' message out, the technology that makes it work is available to incorporate into your organization's Web site. Public relations counselors can make delicious us a stand part of their PR program by establishing a list of favorites with their organization's Web site and adding each news release, article or white paper as they are posted online. It is hard to predict what might capture the attention of the user community.
And, for the new media applications, they have blogs, podcasting, second life, social networking, and Twitter. What is implication of public relations and blogs? Given that blogs are a relatively recent phenomenont an something public relations professionals are only beginning to grapple with, Yet blogs can be very useful research tools, particularly in monitoring and environmental scanning in that they provide direct access to public attitudes. and this suggests that blogs have value as research tool in pulbic relations in that thy offer an insight into the compliexity, subtlety, diversity, and the contradictions and lack of cohesion in public opinion. what do you think of it?
To be continued.....=)
Hi Yale! Great post. Definitely new media plays an important role in PR. But one has to be careful with the media though. It can portray you both on a good and bad light. Thus, PR practitioners have to learn how to handle the media.
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I agree on your last part whereby you wrote about public practitioners using social networking systems to reach out to people. Public relations practitioners should really make use of the new media and get the most out of it. However, they must always remember that since it is a tool that everyone have access to, they have to be careful and also, not misuse it.
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