THE EFFECT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON THE PRACTICE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS

ABSTRACT

The effect of social media has increased among consumers around the world, causing an increase in the adoption of social media as tactics and means of sharing information among many public relations professionals. Because this new form of communication is growing at such a rapid pace, it is important to analyze the effect of social media on the practice of public relations because communications world is dramatically moving in a digital direction and those who understand this transformation will communicate much more effectively than those who do not.” Public relations practitioners are in the business of communicating with publics and therefore must understand this transformation in order to communicate effectively. However, due to the fast-paced growth of social media, it is difficult for these professionals, as well as the universities training future professionals, to keep current. Blogs, for example, are increasing in popularity because they give independence from traditional editors and media gate keeping (Pavlik, 2007). The use of blogs as a means to gather information is increasing as well as the posting of blogs to better position oneself in he eyes of the public.The survey of public relations professionals revealed that they value social media more than they actually use it; however, a majority of respondents believe social media have changed the way their organizations communicate. Respondents’ answers showed that they and their firms are not measuring the impact of social media practices even though most agreed that public relations practitioners should measure who is talking about their organization or their clients’.