The Effects of Social Media on Practice of Public Relations
CHAPTER ONE
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The main objective of the study is to ascertain the effect of social media on practice of public relation. But to aid the completion of the study, the researcher intend to accomplish the following sub-objective;
- To ascertain the effect of social media on the practice of public relation
- To ascertain the impact of social media on the growth of public relation profession
- To evaluate the relationship between social media and modern public relation profession
- To evaluate the role of social media on the efficiency of public relation profession
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Introduction
When many people think of social media, they think of Facebook and Twitter. However, social media do not just include social networking sites, but also blogs, forums, message boards, photo sharing, podcasts, RSS (really simple syndication), search engine marketing, video sharing, Wikis, social networks, professional networks, and microblogging sites (Wright and Hinson, 2009). As stated by Wright and Hinson (2009) and reported by the International Association of Business Communicators, “more than half of all Internet users have joined a social network, social networks have become the number one platform for creating and sharing content and nearly 75 percent of all Internet users have read a blog” (Young, 2009). Although social media are impacting the way many organizations communicate and more and more people are becoming active with these new channels, the definition of what social media encapsulates is undetermined due to the rise of many different forms. No two people are defining this media the same way. The Internet gives public relations practitioners a unique opportunity to collect information, monitor public opinion on issues, and engage in direct dialogue with their publics about a variety of issues. (McAllister & Taylor, 2007) However, much of the academic literature has an overall tone of lament that practitioners were simply transferring traditional approaches and models of public relations practice to the web and were not evolving their practice. With past evidence suggesting that public relations practitioners were open to using new technology (Porter & Sallot, 2003), it seems incongruous that even a traditional mainstay of public relations practice like media relations is not taking advantage of the possibilities offered by the web (Alfonso & de Valbuena Miguel, 2006). A recent study of 120 corporate websites from six European countries, the US and Singapore (Alfonso & de Valbuena Miguel, 2006) found that the ‘use of Internet tools to build strong and solid relationships with the media is far from ideal’ (p. 274). The significant weaknesses detected highlighted that these companies may neither have comprehensive, well-designed public relations strategies nor sufficient resources to execute them and, further, that any shortcomings in an organisation’s public relations practices were more evident due to the power of the Internet. (Alfonso & de Valbuena Miguel, 2006). In another study, Jo and Jung (2005) examined key elements of the website homepages of top companies in the USA and South Korea and found that there was little that could categorized as examples of symmetrical two-way communications with the majority of South Korean elements being those of press agentry and the majority of US website elements being public information. The findings supported what other studies in the area have shown in that ‘public relations practitioners do not yet use the internet to increase interaction between organisations and their publics’ (Jo & Jung 2005, p. 27).
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Introduction
This chapter deals with the method used in collecting data required in carrying out this research work it explains the procedures that were followed and the instrument used in collecting data.
Sources of data collection
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
Primary source and Secondary source
Primary source:
These are materials of statistical investigation which were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment, the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.
Secondary source:
These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as byproducts of the same other purposes. Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Introduction
Efforts will be made at this stage to present, analyze and interpret the data collected during the field survey. This presentation will be based on the responses from the completed questionnaires. The result of this exercise will be summarized in tabular forms for easy references and analysis. It will also show answers to questions relating to the research questions for this research study. The researcher employed simple percentage in the analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was to ascertain the effect of social media on practice of public relation.
In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges encountered by public relation practitioners.
Summary
The public relations practitioners of Nigeria participating in this study demonstrated ambivalence towards the use of Internet in their practice which is similar to the trend identified elsewhere in the world. While they saw advantages in using the Internet to facilitate direct communication with their target publics and enhancing the overall speed of communications, they were equally anxious about the time pressure that the social media exerted on their roles and the loss of control over the information circulated about the organizations that they represent. The study pertaining to the extent of use of social media tools reflected similarities with a recent study conducted among American practitioners revealing that just like in the U.S., practitioners in Nigeria are more comfortable with the employment of established Internet tools such as the email and intranets whereas they are evidently lagging behind in their adoption of social media tools. Even within the social media sphere, the practitioners exhibited a lack of interest in presumably niche tools such as virtual worlds and online gaming, and felt more comfortable using blogs.
Conclusion
The full ramifications of new media for public relations and its continuing evolution are far beyond the scope of this study. Responding to the demands of emerging media in an environment where traditional media demands on public relations practice are not reducing significantly will be a major area of concern in coming years. Evaluation challenges that have been articulated in the public relations literature over the past two decades will be further complicated by the seeming fluidity of both the new media technologies themselves and the conventions of their use. Generally, studies included in this review paper that found practices somewhat lacking did not deeply investigate why the situation was as they found. Further research is needed to ascertain whether it was lack of technological knowhow, reluctance on the part of the public relations practitioners to integrate new media into their practice, or communication management role. Indications are that if public relations practitioners do not step up to the mark, then others will do so. There is a clear threat in some quarters to the domain of public relations from other specialist areas within organizations as new media technologies cut across disciplines. The public relations terrain may seem more attractive, and be more prone to invasion from those outside the profession, if a perception develops that the area is now more technology-driven and less about ‘touchy feely’ communication or traditional media.
Recommendations
Because social media are viewed as untrustworthy, inaccurate and not credible, it is recommended that more research should be conducted on those using these new media outlets, especially those who publish blogs. Another track would be to investigate how to raise credibility – perhaps through code or oversight. Brian Solis and Deirdre Breakenridge (2009) state in their book Putting the Public Back in Public Relations: “with the rapid rise of blogs, calls for standards and reform are firing in from the journalism industry, as well as the people, companies, and brands affected by sloppy, overly opinionated, misleading, hostile, biased, motivated, or incentivized blog posts. Many people believe that like journalists, bloggers should be held to the same standards for the content they post online; however, this topic is very controversial because social media are fueled by opinions. Currently, no organization is in place to govern the blogosphere and therefore individual organizations have formed to hold personal standards for ethics in blogging.
Reference
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- Alfonso, G.-H., & de Valbuena Miguel, R. (2006). Trends in online media relations: Web-based corporate press rooms in leading international companies. Public Relations Review. [Electronic version]. 32, pp. 267–275.
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- Commonwealth of Australia, Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts (2005). Unlocking the Potential: Digital Content Industry Action Agenda—Strategic Industry Leaders Group Report to the Australian Government. Accessed 21 April 2007.
