I would like to follow on from Nick and Andrew by introducing myself and giving you some of my thoughts on social media and the shift in PR practice.
A quick intro to me: I have studied Journalism and Marketing Management at degree and masters degree level respectively and have been working closely with social media for over a year now. I have just moved to Frimley with my girlfriend Jess after living in Saffron Walden for most of my life. I like to keep active, playing in a five a side league in Yateley twice a week, and I like to go running, having run the New York Marathon last year for the Dreams Come True Charity. I also like to draw caricatures in my spare time, here's a little sketch of Nick and Andrew:
It is clear that the PR industry is currently experiencing a fundamental change. I’m sure that you will all agree that the huge rise in the online arena has led to a clear shift in balance, in that the citizen is now armed with the tools to disseminate information, and in a very short space of time the ability to control this flow of information has now gone, along with the power to regulate what this information is. Any Joe public can post a blog about their personal opinion on any given subject and this will instantly be viewed across the world.
Everyone is now a journalist with the ability to write and publish content on the web and it is now very hard to disseminate which information sources are valid and which are not. This process is somewhat straightforward with the print media; you can identify which publications are top tier, 2nd tier etc. This is very difficult with web content.
Stephen Davies of PR Blogger has started to tackle the somewhat blurred idea of blog measurement by compiling a list of the top 50 UK influential bloggers (according to Technorati). Stephen stresses that this list is by no means definitive, but it does provide a good starting point for us to learn more about the UK Blogosphere. Surely this is the first step of many towards finding a way to measure blogging.
The Internet is filled with information-clutter from a variety of different sources, and we need to make sense of this clutter and make it understandable by filtering the important channels from the non-important ones. We can therefore help organisations focus on the ‘publics’ that matter/influence. What is now important for PR professionals is the ability to demonstrate ways in which we are able to deal with these multiple information sources and utilise them for the benefit of our clients. This is the fundamental thinking behind STONK, helping organisations to maximise their new media potential.
Blogging is a very powerful communications technology and it is surprising when you think how long the Internet has been around and yet many organisations are only starting to understand blogging and grasp the opportunities that the Web provides. While PR professionals have always known that if you’re not engaging with your clients or customers, you’re not reaching them; the Internet has shifted these traditional rules of engagement. The Web network is increasingly acting as the cornerstone of human interaction, work and entertainment.
The rise of Podcasting is significant, as it is now regarded as an important aspect of the social communications strategy and it represents a great opportunity for PR. One of the great advantages of Podcasting is that it is more light hearted; by putting a human voice to an organisation it allows you to connect with them more successfully. Podcasting is seen as far more intimate than blogging, giving a sense of personality.
Of course we can never neglect traditional PR channels, but you only have to look at the number of print publications that have been cut recently to see how mainstream media channels have been gradually disappearing. This mainly boils down to the fact that you can get your company message out to your target audience far more cheaply and far more effectively through online methods.
Watch this space for more thoughts on this and how organisations can utilise social media tools.
Adam Clatworthy
