Social media platforms give organizations (and public relations professionals) a quick and direct voice to the world and that voice could be used to communicate with and to the media.
In the old paradigm, an organization would have to place an opinion-editorial column in a newspaper if they needed to voice their opinion on a subject or defend themselves, usually written by public relations professionals. Today, social media platforms allow organizations to directly and instantly communicate their desires. An important aspect of this is communicating directly with the media, especially if the specific media in question is the intended direction of defense.
In the sports Twitterverse (Twitter Universe), I have seen a more then a few teams defend themselves to journalists on Twitter or Facebook after a story or column ran that they felt was incorrect or inappropriate. Social media platforms give teams a voice to fight back and this is something that journalists didn’t have to deal with as frequently in the past. This isn’t an action I would recommend a team’s public relations staff take regularly, but if appropriate, it can be a great tool for them.
Social media platforms allow for public relations professionals to fight back when they receive media coverage that they believe is in error. This is a dangerous method to use because it is usually public for everyone to see (as oppose to a private phone call, e-mail or letter), but if the timing is correct it is an advantageous tool to use, although one that should be used extremely carefully, selectively and seldom.
Update: April 1, 2011
Along the same lines as the blog post above, social media platforms allow for an immediate avenue of access for crisis communication plans. As part of the old news cycle, responses driven by public relations professionals were at the mercy of the news cycle. With social media, a crisis communication plan can start immediately with your side/response at the forefront of the news. Social media should be part of every crisis communication plan.
Interactions on Social Media Platforms
Social media platforms have created additional direct methods of communications between many groups of individuals that public relations professionals must be aware of. They consist of (in no particular order or terminology): Consumer/Brand, Consumer/Media and Brand/Media.
In these models, public relations professionals are a part of the “brand” and even in the model that features only the “consumer” and “media”, the “brand” (PR professionals) must follow their communication because the feedback going back and forth is important. The image or perception of the brand can also be affected and needs to be monitored as well.
Since the media are on multiple social media platforms, communication directed to and from journalists is increasing due to the simplistic methods social media provides. This pattern shift shows that journalists are not only speaking to their followers and/or fans through their traditional publication medium, but also through social media platforms.
Social media platforms allow journalists to voice their opinion - or additional opinions - on subjects or events they have covered, opined or even have no direct relation to. That last part adds to the monitoring that public relations professionals are responsible for.
Jeremy Porter from Journalistics.com commented in an Internet article:
In these models, public relations professionals are a part of the “brand” and even in the model that features only the “consumer” and “media”, the “brand” (PR professionals) must follow their communication because the feedback going back and forth is important. The image or perception of the brand can also be affected and needs to be monitored as well.
Since the media are on multiple social media platforms, communication directed to and from journalists is increasing due to the simplistic methods social media provides. This pattern shift shows that journalists are not only speaking to their followers and/or fans through their traditional publication medium, but also through social media platforms.
Social media platforms allow journalists to voice their opinion - or additional opinions - on subjects or events they have covered, opined or even have no direct relation to. That last part adds to the monitoring that public relations professionals are responsible for.
Jeremy Porter from Journalistics.com commented in an Internet article:
“What has changed is the direction of the arrows in traditional mass communications model. Back in the day, you had your message, the medium and the mass. Rip that page out of the book and throw it away. Today, you have people interacting with people. It’s two-way, with a lot more listening going on. You still rely on a medium to communicate your message – but you use it to listen now, and there are a lot of media options.”
“Mainstream” Journalists Use Social Media
An early, but crucial battle that social media platforms won in the communications revolution is when the “mainstream” media began publishing news on platforms such as Twitter and Facebook. That move signaled to the world that social media platforms are legitimate enough to deliver their most important type of news -- breaking news.
At the same time, using social media platforms have turned the job of journalists from being ready to report the news at anytime to actually reporting the news at anytime on a consistent basis. So not only do social media platforms bring a new breed of journalists for public relations to interact with, it changes the behavior of “mainstream” journalists.
This is another, but important paradigm shift that public relations professionals must be aware of.
At the same time, using social media platforms have turned the job of journalists from being ready to report the news at anytime to actually reporting the news at anytime on a consistent basis. So not only do social media platforms bring a new breed of journalists for public relations to interact with, it changes the behavior of “mainstream” journalists.
This is another, but important paradigm shift that public relations professionals must be aware of.
Mainstream Media vs. New “Social” Media
Is there a difference between a blogger who has been granted permission to cover an event, sits next to a reporter from a newspaper and updates his blog every ten minutes compared to a person on Twitter who has a large following with a desire to report on the same event?
Determining if there are any differences is one of the first steps in deciding if someone who only uses a social media platform is a "legitimate reporter". That determination will most likely fall on the shoulders of public relations professionals.
Internet websites and blogs have pushed the news cycle from 24-hours to continuous. Social media platforms pushed the new news cycle even further from continuous to immediate. Personal opinions on what a "legitimate journalist" should be or the method of how they report flew out the window years ago when Internet websites and blogs became accepted sources of news.
If the general public continues to accept social media platforms as a source for breaking news, public relations professionals will have no choice but to accept them as part of the mainstream media.
As the communications revolution continues to unfold, public relations professionals must follow how trends are changing and be flexible with them, even if that includes accepting social media platforms as legitimate sources of media.
Determining if there are any differences is one of the first steps in deciding if someone who only uses a social media platform is a "legitimate reporter". That determination will most likely fall on the shoulders of public relations professionals.
Internet websites and blogs have pushed the news cycle from 24-hours to continuous. Social media platforms pushed the new news cycle even further from continuous to immediate. Personal opinions on what a "legitimate journalist" should be or the method of how they report flew out the window years ago when Internet websites and blogs became accepted sources of news.
If the general public continues to accept social media platforms as a source for breaking news, public relations professionals will have no choice but to accept them as part of the mainstream media.
As the communications revolution continues to unfold, public relations professionals must follow how trends are changing and be flexible with them, even if that includes accepting social media platforms as legitimate sources of media.
The Media with Social Media
When the age of the Internet blew onto the scene in the late 1990s and early 2000s with new websites popping up every day, there was a great debate on how they should be treated as legitimate journalistic sources compared to the mainstream media stalwarts such as newspapers, magazines and television and radio stations.
Today, many websites with no connection to the aforementioned media stalwarts are now accepted as legitimate news sources. It was a long, hard battle for Internet websites, but it was a battle that many won. In 2010, a similar battle is being waged with social media enthusiasts looking for accreditation and acceptance as a news source that can report at and from live events.
As they were when Internet websites were seeking acceptance, public relations professionals are at the forefront of the decision-making process that will determine when and how social media journalists become accredited.
So... Should people who use social media platforms as their only means of reporting be credentialed just as mainstream and blogging media?
Today, many websites with no connection to the aforementioned media stalwarts are now accepted as legitimate news sources. It was a long, hard battle for Internet websites, but it was a battle that many won. In 2010, a similar battle is being waged with social media enthusiasts looking for accreditation and acceptance as a news source that can report at and from live events.
As they were when Internet websites were seeking acceptance, public relations professionals are at the forefront of the decision-making process that will determine when and how social media journalists become accredited.
So... Should people who use social media platforms as their only means of reporting be credentialed just as mainstream and blogging media?
No "Undo" In Social Media
As quick, instant and easy as it is to send a positive message or promotion on the various social media platforms, it is as just as quick, instant and easy to send a bad one.
Whether intentional or accidental, tongue-in-cheek, politically incorrect, or otherwise, a bad statement can be broadcasted over the Internet via a social media platform. And just as a positive news item can go viral on the Internet because of social media platforms, a poor or mistimed statement can have the same fate, albeit a disaterious one.
Yes, there is a delete button, but that doesn’t erase the statement forever. If just one person sees it and responds to it, it can live forever in cyberspace and still spread. And even if no one sees it before it is delete, web search engines like Google continuously patrol social media platforms and record a history or “cache” of what is being submitted and broadcasted and there is no way of deleting it from there.
Every Tweet, Facebook or LinkedIn status update must be made carefully and when statements are made through social media platforms, public relations professionals must as certain they are appropriate just as if they were going in a press release.
Whether intentional or accidental, tongue-in-cheek, politically incorrect, or otherwise, a bad statement can be broadcasted over the Internet via a social media platform. And just as a positive news item can go viral on the Internet because of social media platforms, a poor or mistimed statement can have the same fate, albeit a disaterious one.
Yes, there is a delete button, but that doesn’t erase the statement forever. If just one person sees it and responds to it, it can live forever in cyberspace and still spread. And even if no one sees it before it is delete, web search engines like Google continuously patrol social media platforms and record a history or “cache” of what is being submitted and broadcasted and there is no way of deleting it from there.
Every Tweet, Facebook or LinkedIn status update must be made carefully and when statements are made through social media platforms, public relations professionals must as certain they are appropriate just as if they were going in a press release.
Always Being "On"
While the evolution of social media has many exciting advantages, it also has carries some drawbacks. Public relations professionals must be aware of the negative aspects of social media because they can be just as harmful as the advantages can be helpful. The drawbacks range from being on the preverbal corporate clock every second of the day to producing statements that reflect poorly on the image of organization or company.
24/7 & Every Second Counts
It goes hand-in-hand with the continuous news cycle and takes the 24-hours a day, seven-days a week approach of the Internet to a new level. Whether it’s the media, consumers or rivals in the business field, everyone is always “on” in the social media universe. And because one of the advantages is being able to "respond" quickly, a public relations professional must be able to deal with any type of negative situation just as immediately while using social media.
And just as having a message go viral can be a great for a company or organization, it can just easily be disastrous with negative attention. Since social media platforms are continuously growing with users, the effects of a negative viral event could have a crippling effect.
Adam Singer of The Future Buzz pointed out there are "400 million active Facebook users ... 50 million Tweets per day ... 133 million blogs that create 900,000 blog posts every 24 hours ... and around 77% of internet users read blogs…"
With that information in hand, it's important to remember that people tend to notice the bad more then the good. There’s a lot of people on the Web to see the bad news if and when it hits.
24/7 & Every Second Counts
And just as having a message go viral can be a great for a company or organization, it can just easily be disastrous with negative attention. Since social media platforms are continuously growing with users, the effects of a negative viral event could have a crippling effect.
Adam Singer of The Future Buzz pointed out there are "400 million active Facebook users ... 50 million Tweets per day ... 133 million blogs that create 900,000 blog posts every 24 hours ... and around 77% of internet users read blogs…"
With that information in hand, it's important to remember that people tend to notice the bad more then the good. There’s a lot of people on the Web to see the bad news if and when it hits.
Tags:
Drawbacks,
News Cycle,
Responce
Want to go Viral?
In a time when the word “viral” is associated more with a “web sensation” then a disease, it is important for public relations professionals to be able to take advantage of using the Internet to form connections with unintended consumers. Having a video, game, picture, or some other type of item "go viral" allows for opportunities for those types of connections.
From a PR perspective (but also true from other perspectives), having an Internet or news item go viral on the web means the reach has surpassed its intended audience and is now being reached by consumers who were not originally targeted thus being viewed by thousands or millions of people in a short time period. If the message is positive, then the company or organization has hit the jackpot.
Designing something specifically to go viral is extremely difficult and predicting what Internet surfers want to spend their time looking at is just as, if not more, difficult. In the past few years, social media/networking websites have allowed things to go viral on the Internet easier and occur everyday.
While designing a viral sensation on the Internet might fall on the shoulders of a marketing department (if it's even visible or possible), public relations professionals should be able to identify opportunities if a positive viral item falls into their lap and then be able to promote it and gain further traction and publicity from it.
Of course, further promoting the viral item would only be a plan of action if it's positive. If the viral item is negative, well, that's a whole other discussion.
 |
| Remember the Dancing Baby from Ally McBeal circa 1996? |
Designing something specifically to go viral is extremely difficult and predicting what Internet surfers want to spend their time looking at is just as, if not more, difficult. In the past few years, social media/networking websites have allowed things to go viral on the Internet easier and occur everyday.
While designing a viral sensation on the Internet might fall on the shoulders of a marketing department (if it's even visible or possible), public relations professionals should be able to identify opportunities if a positive viral item falls into their lap and then be able to promote it and gain further traction and publicity from it.
Of course, further promoting the viral item would only be a plan of action if it's positive. If the viral item is negative, well, that's a whole other discussion.
Tags:
Marketing,
Social Media Platforms,
Video,
Viral
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)