"At least one of my children was doing something creative," (Mum) complained. "I had some hopes for you, Juliet, when you did that Media Studies degree. I thought you might go into television. Of course, I have no hopes for you now," she added cuttingly. "I gave them up when you started in public relations."

– My Lurid Past, by Lauren Henderson 

Dr. Greg Smith

BS 318

Course and prof. BackgroundStudent introductions

What is PR?

My phone isToday ALL PR is online PR

I want to start with a few questions... Here’s an easy one - What is PR?  I am not going to give an explanation, I am going to show you an object.

My iPhone. This is PR.  

Never before have we been able to hold up one object and say "This is PR".

Now I can find out all I want to know about the world, I can tell other people what I know and think. I can see and hear what they – you -  think,  individually or in groups. 

I can use it to manage my relationships with the people and the organisations that matter to me.... and other people (you!)... can use it to find out about me – my reputation – and shape our

relationship

Another question:  How many people here have used the internet?  How many have mobile phones  that can do so?

Of course, I could have framed the question the other way round? How many of you haven’t ? If I had asked in UK the answer would have been 9million (notice there are twice as many non-

users in the UK as there people living in Croatia pop 4.5m). The latest stats I could find suggest about half the population of Croatia uses the internet...

.... so at least half don't....

Which is an odd way of starting a presentation that argues that Today all PR is online!

You could interpret the intention behind my question as being to, in effect, cut this audience in two – I’ll talk to you on the left and ignore you on the right.

I am not arguing that online is the ONLY way to reach  stakeholders... it isn’t

But am arguing that online is part of all PR

It is no longer a subdiscipline of PR - it is part of the very fabric of all PR activity.

PR is about reputation management – oganisations have to be aware of their online reputation because in many cases that will be the most visible.

The argument operates on two levels: Search and Visibility - what people find out about you and how easy it is to find that information. Crucially, visibility may have very little to do with

intentional communicative activity on behalf of the organisation.

But there is a more fundamental argument, too. PR is about Relationship Management, the interaction between organisation and stakeholders/audience. Increasingly that relationship is

shaped in an environment where the relationships between stakeholders have become heightened to an unprecedented degree. At micro and macro level time and geography have

disappeared.

The complexity of relationship has mulitiplied

We have real friends, Facebook friends, Twitter follower etc.  Casual visitors, readers etc. But the shift has been in the visibility, the connectivity of those relationships. We can see the

connections, we can aggregate them in what we can call reputation. Simplest form is do a Google search  = lots of results!

(Remember, people have always spent more time talking to their friends and colleagues than they have ‘engaging’ in dialogue with brands, ideologies, organisations).

And many of the results lead to content not created by the organisation visitors were searching for.  Last week Wendy Clark, senior-VP integrated marketing communications and

capabilities at Coca-Cola was quoted in AdAge as saying it was a revelation to discover that of the 150 million views the brand has amassed on YouTube, only 25 million to 30 million of

those views could be attributed to content Coca-Cola had put into the marketplace.

The surprise is that they were surprised.

They should appreciate that the vector of communication has changed from organisation to public

It is now  people to people. That was one of the key arguments of Online Public Relations 2ed. We hope it led to important theoretical and practical chapters, but my argument today is that

books like OPR2ed is becoming redundant.

 Yes the tactics need to be understood, and theoretical insights need to be incorporated into core theory... but this is more than absorption.

To some extent this is recognised by the Global Alliance Stockholm Accords, which state:

Public relations and communication management professionals: • Apply social networking, research skills and tools to interpret stakeholders’ and society’s expectations as a basis for

decisions.

“e-PR”

“The application of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)in the practice of PR”

– Phillips (2001)

E-PR has become a new addition to our constantly expanding vocabulary, which also includes buzz words such as e-commerce, e-mail, e-business, and e-HR. The “e” simply means “electronic”. It includes the internet and its associated tools, but also other forms of electronic PR, such as video and audio. In 2010, Notre Dame will introduce a new PR unit, called e-PR. This lecture the precursor to that.

The first definition of e-PR was made in 2001 by David Phillips, Author of Online Public Relations • E-PR is the application of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in the practice of PR.”

In an internet-mediated world, where every activity is directly or indirectly mediated by the web, every form of PR requires an element of ICT. Through time, more PR activities will depend on ICT.

This means that practitioners need the to have ICT tools available and know how to use them. In this they will be no better equipped to be effective than many others. The tools and skills do not need great learning or expertise.

1.Unit overview. PR today. What is e-PR, social media?Research and environmental scanning

2.Using e-tools in PR.The future of social media.

3.Ethics and NFPs

4.Websites, blogs, writing

5.Google

6.Twitter

7.Facebook and campaigns

8.Podcasts, video

9.Monitoring, evaluation BREAK

10.Media relations

11.Crises

12.Revision, the future

13.Exam

Some weeks may change

This is more a how-to course from my perspective, with you applying your knowledge of the practice and principles of PR to modern methods of communication.As with all university courses, I am here to provide the guidelines and the signposts. You are here to apply your mostly self-gained knowledge to show your understanding of the topic.You will have to do certain things in this unit:•Research and monitor trends and or news•Be able to use various electronic tools, both online and in-hand (video and sound recording)•Write well, regularly and to deadline.•Present professionally, verbally, visually and in person.

Tip: In all the presentations, you should to treat the class as your client. In your writing, treat me as the client. And remember, don’t assume we know anything about the subject. Always provide background.

MarkingAssignment Weeks Marks

Participation• Blogs• Tweets• In class

4-86-122-12

30%10%10%10%

Group Weeks 10-12 40%

Exam Week 13 30%

Time is short 12 weeks x 3 hours = 36 hours contactplus your study and work time x 4 = ?

readingsresearchwritingmeetings

What you learn in that time is up to you.

We can’t teach you much in a semester ... Really.All we can do is point out what happens. It’s up to you to apply your knowledge and expand it when you get to working.Efforts in = Results out

Social Media?

Text

In this unit we will be looking at how social media is used within the context of PR, or how PR can best use some of the forms of social media.

Why is it called social media? Someone? Anyone?It’s an exchange of information. We share, we “chat”. It’s informal, yet for PR people it still has to be professional.

Changing media

Mobile = alerts me

Internet = tells me

TV = shows me

Print = explains to me (provides context)

Youʼre living in exponential times, as you will see at the end of this lecture. The communications challenges are many (and varied). AT times, I think “better you than me”. The pace will only get quicker.

When you get the CEO of News Limited Australia talking and thinking about new media, then you know somethingʼs happening.John Hartigan runs Rupertʼs operations here. Harto, as heʼs known, once was a knockabout journalist carving his name in the wooden press gallery at Balmain courthouse ... similar to our guest speaker two weeks ago. Heʼs witnessed a rapid transformation of the media landscape in his 40 years in newspapers.He recognises, as should you, that the news cycle is changing. He summarised it thus:

• my mobile to alert me;• the internet to tell me; • TV to show me; and • print to explain it, give it context and tell me what it really means

Think about ʻITʼ ...

Hugh Mackay

“He might do well to take each moment as it comes examined but unexplained. There could perhaps be something to the idea that life’s mystery is sweet even when it’s painful. Trying too hard to make sense of it might be to miss the point.”– From Winter Close, Hugh Mackay

In a recent newspaper article (an extract form a just-released book, Advance Australia-Where?) noted Australian social researcher and commentator Hugh Mackay, who is also a qualified psychologist, questioned just exactly where weʼre heading with communication, or more particularly with the way we communicate. Mackay has been prodding the nationʼs conscience for more than 25 years.Just how we are communicating is something that has concerned me for some time. Hopefully it will concern you, as possible future communicators.In his article, Mackay questions whether we are in fact missing out on something, despite all the methods at our disposal to impart information. Is the “humaness” being taken out of communication?If nothing else, over the next two weeks, I ask that you consider just what we can achieve by using the latest communication techniques. Are we simply confusing data transfer with human communication, or are we using tools that help foster understanding and assist in the way we practice sound PR?

What is Social Media?

Socialisation of media Monologue > dialogue Puts ʻPublic” back into PR Not yet developed

• The current thinking is that media is being “socialised”. By media, we are now referring to “new” media (the Internet). The Internet is now THE media. People now have control of what gets published and broadcast. One term for it is citizen journalism. Whatever the pros and cons, it is here to stay.

As you would all be aware, the traditional media (print, radio, TV) are under threat. Established media companies the world over are rushing into Cyberspace, as witnessed by Rupert Murdoch’s recent purchase of MySpace. We have discussed that the 2008 Beijing Olympics will have four hours a day telecast by Channel 7 on Yahoo.

So the socialisation of media is simply people are populating the Internet with information. We form social groups according to our interests. We facilitate social interaction, whether it’s by words, or pictures, both live and recorded.

•The way communication has developed is that monologue has given way to dialog. And that’s a good thing. People are communicating both ways. Social media has created a new layer of influencers. It is the understanding of the role people play in the process of not only reading and disseminating information, but also how they in turn, share and also create content for others to participate. This, and only this, allows us to truly grasp the future of communications.

•Social media is about putting the “public” (or the people in society) back in Public Relations and realising that focusing on important markets and influencers will have a far greater impact than trying to reach the masses with any one message or tool.

•The exciting thing is that this trend is only just developing, and you will be part of it. However, most people around the world have yet to embrace it and participate. Please keep in mind that when we talk about the proliferation of all these techniques, we are talking about only those countries that have developed IT infrastructure.

See the reading by Lee Hopkins.

World Internet usage (09)

1%3%Africa

3%Latin America

11%

N.America16%

Europe25%

Asia41%

http://www.internetworldstats.com

M.EastAust/Oceania

World Internet usage (million)

http://www.internetworldstats.com

0

175

350

525

700

2000 2007 2009

Asia

Europe

N.America

Latin America

AfricaM.East

Aust/Oceania

Region Usage, millionsUsage, millionsUsage, millions % pop. penetration

2000 2007 2009 2009

Africa 4.5 33.5 54 5.6

Asia 114.3 436.7 657 17.4

Europe 105 321.8 393 48.9

Middle East 3.2 19.5 45.8 23.3

Nth America 108 232.6 251 74.4

Latin America/Caribbean

18 110 173.6 29.9

Oceania/Australia 7.6 18.8 20.7 60.4

TOTAL 360m 1.17b 1.5b 23.8

http://www.internetworldstats.comFor Australia, the estimate is there are just over 15 million internet users, from a population of 21 million, giving 72% population penetration. However, itʼs interesting to note that in NZ, their penetration rate is higher at 75%.

Hong Kong 68.2USA 69.5Chile 42

This week (almost)

“Understanding how to leverage this audience successfully is both a challenge and significant opportunity.”

– Will Hodgman, Exec. VP, Aisia-Pacific.

And to demostrate how on the ball we are here. Fgures (Aug, 2009) for social media usage in Australia..

Comscore found more than 70 percent of Internet users in Australia visited a social networking site in June, up 29 percent from the previous year.

Total visitors (000)Total visitors (000)Total visitors (000)

Jun 08 Jun 09 % change

Total Internet users 11,044 12,386 12

Social networking 6862 8857 29

Facebook 3125 6102 95

MySpace 3369 3530 5

Bebo 1627 1475 -9

Twitter 13 800 6122

Text

Table showing growth in social networking. Note Twitter - a 6000% growth in one year, from 13000 users to 800,000

Current usage

200m users$150m

600m users$2.2b

200-400m gmail

$1.15b

Sergey Bin

Larry Page

2006 2004

1998

21 March 2006, Jack Dorsey.

1 Twitter reached 1 billion tweets in 3 years, 2 months and 1 day. Now Twitter users send 1 billion tweets per week.2 One year ago, users sent an average of 50 million tweets per day. Today, that average is 140 million. And the number is growing: There were 177 million

tweets sent out last Friday on March 11, 2011.3 At the start of this year, Twitter users in Japan set the tweets per second record at 6,939 tweets per second, 4 seconds after midnight in Japan on New

Year’s Day.4 The average number of accounts created per day is 460,000. Over half a million (572,000) accounts were created this past Saturday, March 12, 2011.5 There has been a 182% increase in Twitter mobile users this past year.6 And of course, Twitter itself has grown from 8 employees in January 2008 to 400 employees today.

• Google Plus 10 million users in two weeks! (http://techcrunch.com- 12 July). Founded 1998.• Models are different. Many use google without an account - just search• Facebook 2004

Changing face of PR

Talk the lingo

Send release all the time

Appeal to target groups

Link to web site

Optimise for searching, browsing

While many marketing and PR people understand that media releases sent over the wires appear in near real-time on services like Google News, very few understand how they must dramatically alter their media release strategy in order to maximize the effectiveness of the media release as a direct consumer-communication channel. • The Web has changed the rules. Many “publics” read your media releases directly and you need to be talking their language.

This is not to suggest that media relations are no longer important. Mainstream media and the trade press must be part of an overall communications strategy. In some businesses, mainstream media and the trade press remain critically important and, of course, the media still derives some of its content from releases. But your primary audience is no longer just a handful of journalists. Your audience is millions of people with Internet connections and access to search engines and RSS readers. There are some simple rules to ensure your news gets out, via the SMR:

• Donʼt just send press releases when “big news” is happening; find good reasons to send them all the time. • Instead of just targeting a handful of journalists, create press releases that appeal directly to your target audiences. •Create links in releases to deliver potential customers to landing pages on your Web site. • Optimise media release delivery for searching and browsing.

1971

1978

19941995

1997

2000

2002

2003

2004

History of Social Media

2006

1978 - First email. The computers were sitting next to each other1978 - BBS data exchanged over phone lines. First copies of web browsers (Usenet). Still used today. Big in Taiwan.1994/95 - Geocities, The Globe. 1997 - AOL- instant msg (forerunner of SMS) & Six Degrees (Profile creations, friends listed)

In next week’s readings, there is one from Cavazza, who covers the change in social media from 2008-2011, which is actually a long time in SM terms. Please pay particular attention to how SM is changing.

Blogs, Twitter, facebook, google (YouTube)

We will be looking at two of the most common forms of social media, both with implications for PR - social media releases and blogs.

The reason Brian wilson is here because it shows us something about how BIG names in music are using social media. Ok, maybe not big to you.For next week I want you all to find a favourite artist or personality that uses a range of social media tools, and to give a two-minute presentation. You will need to bring the web address of the main page that demonstrates this (as on this slide).

Blogs

Blog = weblog

Moblogs

Blogosphere

a website, usually maintained by an individual, with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video.

"Blogs" were (up to about 2 years ago) the fastest-growing online phenomenon.  Thereʼs said to be from between 12 to 35 million blogs on the web. The thing is, nobody knows.• “Blog” is short for “web log”. It describes a website that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer.• “Moblogs” (mobile phone blogs) are blogs that are regularly updated using of the text and camera facilities of mobile phones.• The “blogosphere” refers to the universe of blogs, bloggers and blogging and is essentially an online community where information, opinions, and influence are spread by online word of mouth.

Blog content/features

Thought and commentary

Content:

Diary, rant, notices, pictures, archives

Personal style = “citizen journalism”

Like-minded people

• Blogs are essentially online journals of thought and commentary. • They may combine aspects of diary, rant, noticeboards, and photo galleries, and most blogs include archives of past entries, lists of other blogs favoured by the author, and a facility for reader input.• Blogs are characterised by a personal and conversational writing style, subjective points of view and a sense of egalitarianism and empowering the voice of the individual.• Although on the surface blogging is about one individual putting their thoughts on the web for all to see, another fundamental aspect of blogging is its facilitation of communication and connections between like-minded people.

Who uses them?

Increasing use by companies (Microsoft)

Amateurs and professionals

Bloggers can carve reputations (Drudge)

Originally blogs were written by individuals, but there are now a growing number of blogs being set up by companies, organisations and the mainstream media. Microsoft, for example, encourage its employees to blog. • As such, bloggers (the people who write blogs) are a mix of amateur and professional writers.• As the internet is now often the first stop for people looking for the ʻrealʼ story, successful bloggers (as measured by pageviews of their blogs) can become well-known commentators on a particular topic to the network of people interested in that area and can therefore become very influential.

Are they practical?

Will the organisation benefit?

Exchange information

Blogs offer:

ʻnew voiceʼ, depth (?), analysis, alternative

Attract attention and cause action (Apple batteries)

• So how practical is the social media news release? For entrepreneurs, the question boils down to: Will my organisation benefit from the increased functionality?So far, the social media release has been used primarily by those in the tech industry, which makes sense, since reporters, bloggers and customers in the tech space are familiar with all the release’s bells and whistles. If you have a cutting-edge company, using the new release could even be viewed as a benefit in itself--showcasing your business as a trendsetter in your field. Other sectors that may benefit include the entertainment industry, companies that appeal to youth culture or businesses that market highly visual products.• The objective, as always, is to facilitate the exchange of information and do so in a manner that’ll attract attention to your products, services or messages.• These days Blogs provide a platform to introduce new voices into national or international debates on particular issues and to transmit content that doesn’t get a run in commercial channels. The blogging community adds depth, analysis, alternative perspectives, foreign views, and occasionally first-person accounts that can contravene reports in the mainstream press.• Issues that start online in blogs and resonate with audiences can eventually cross over and gain coverage in the mainstream media. For example, Apple was forced to change the battery in its iPods after two consumers started a blog to expose the fact that the batteries only lasted 18 months and could not be replaced. 

Are they credible?

Legimitate form of media

Limitations:

Lack of formal training

Not subject to rules and ethics

No editing

Usually biased

Yes. They can do all that - to varying degrees. But are they credible?• Blogs have emerged as a powerful alternative to the mainstream media; as mentioned - a new form of journalism, open to anyone who can establish and create a website. So they ARE a form of media.They represent a fundamental shift in power as compared to other media, because blogs enable individuals to play an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, sorting, analysing, and disseminating news and information - a task once reserved exclusively for the media.Blogs have been known to publish news before the traditional media reports on it and media are increasingly scanning blogs for tips, sources, story ideas, and perspectives on current issues.• However, the concept of bloggers as the new media raises some interesting questions. On one hand, bloggers are like editorial writers or columnists since they apply the filter of opinion.  On the other hand however, bloggers may not have any formally-learnt writing skills, are not bound by a journalistic code of conduct, are not subject to an editing process, and may be pushing a personal agenda. 

PR implications

Awareness essential

Warns of issues and/or crises

Gather information

Understand target groups and media (SMH)

Reach target groups

• It is essential that communications professionals are aware of the blogs relevant to their organisations so they can monitor what is being said about their organisation and its products and services. Blogs can:• provide early warnings of impending issues or potential crises), • provide competitor information (through competitor blogs), • contribute to a better understanding of the concerns, challenges and interests of different stakeholder groups.• Communications professionals should also note the media outlets and journalists on their target lists who have their own blogs. These can be monitored for the journalistʼs personal areas of interest, and new stories that the journalist may be thinking of or working on. Journalistsʼ blogs can be a helpful source of background information when pitching article ideas. The Sydney Morning Herald, for example, lists a number of journalists with blogs.• Another implication of blogs on PR and marketing communications is the potential to be utilised as a tool by the organisation to communicate with stakeholder groups. 

Practical usesGenerate interest

Build product “buzz”

Use as informal focus group

Release non-essential news

Alternative to e-mail

Target specific, hard-to-reach groups

Monitor trends, opinion, sentiment

Blogs can be used as part of an integrated communication strategy to enhance and complement the rest of an organisation’s communications activities.Blogs provides a bottom-up, grassroots method of sharing information about organisations through the web. They can be used to:1. Generate interest about the company and/or its products and services among current and potential customers, partners, resellers, media, and industry influencers2. Build buzz and positive word of mouth promotion for the company and/or its products and services3. Spark informal conversations about the organisation and/or its products and services4. Position executives or R&D teams as thought leaders5. Offer an outlet for news and information not important enough, or even suitable for a press release, but still worthy of being communicated6. Differentiate an organisation from its competition7. Provide an alternative to one-to-many email broadcasts8. Enhance internal communication9. Target very specific groups - people with specific demographics, opinions, perspectives, worldviews, and interests10. Reach audiences that may be difficult to reach through conventional communication channels - e.g. tech-savvy audiences11. Monitor public opinion and sentiment

Social networks

Construct profile

Build a list

View and respond to concerns

In fact, what we now have is not social media, itʼs social networks. This is the environment PR people have to move about in.

• Boyd and Ellison (2007) define social networks as “…web-based services that allow individuals to….1) construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system2) articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection3) view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system. The nature and nomenclature of these connections may vary from site to site.”

PR people have to be able to identify social networks - those highly-specialised groups (publics) that make up the ??????

Social Networking

• Examples of social networks are Facebook, MySpace. There are many others, including those for people who have pugs as pets, and so on. We’ll look briefly at Facebook and Twitter.

• 67% of the global online population now visit a social network site, and this sector accounts for 10% of all Internet time. (Germany, Switzerland, Great Britain, and Italy are the fastest-growing segments.)

• Social networks and blogs are now the 4th most popular online category – ahead of personal Email

• Member sites now account for 1 in every 11 minutes online

• Twitter is and it isn’t a social networking site. Current research shows it is used more by professionals.

• Like all things o the internet, you have to be wary of your sources. Fake accounts abound, and this is also the case in corporate life, where these types of site have resulted in an increase in what’s known as campaign astroturfing. The goal of such a campaign is to disguise the agenda of a client as an independent public reaction to some political entity. It’s called astroturfing because AstroTurf (artificial grass) is a metaphor to indicate fake grassroots support. This could be regarded as pure propaganda. Like everything they are levels.

Facebook is a social networking website that was originally designed for college students, but is now open to anyone 13 years of age or older. Facebook users can create and customize their own profiles with photos, videos, and information about themselves. Friends can browse the profiles of other friends and write messages on their pages. (TechTerms.com)

Orkut.com in Brazil (operated by Google) has the largest domestic online reach (70%) of any social network anywhere in the world, whereas Facebook has the highest average time per visitor among the 75 most popular brands online worldwide. The amount of time spent on Facebook.com increased by more than 566% in only one year. (Nielsen, 2009)

Use academia.edu –  A facebook-like application•Use Facebook Groups –  Create a class-centric group

Continuous connection

Twitter is a microblogging application that is more or less a combination of instant messaging and blogging.

Twitter is the flavour of the moment, with regard to spreading on-line (and beyond) messages. I say beyond, because like so much of social media now, it is now mobile. Facebook, You Tube, MySpace and Twitter can now be run from mobile phones, whereas only recently they were restricted to web-based applications. And when I say recently, I mean two years ago. Despite the fact that few people from your age demographic use it, Twitter remains a tool of choice for communication among communications professionals. You will have to learn to use it if you work in many professions.

Following brands on Twitter has its rewards, as Jetstar demonstrated (AUgust 09).  

The brand – held a Twitter-only giveaway of 3000 seats on its new Melbourne Tullamarine – Sydney service. Considering that was how many followers it had at the time, those odds were pretty good for those who moved fast before the retweetign kicked in.

And when a mainstream offer of $19 went live later in the day, the Twitter account also proved useful for the brand to apologise to punters (and blame Telstra) after the server crashed.

The Twitter giveaway is the second time Jetstar has tried that type of initiative. Earlier in the year, it offered its Twitter followers 1000 seats for 1c each.

Summary: We now live in an age where weʼre continually connected.

• One-stop “shop”• Mail• YouTube• E-Blogger• Calendar• Picasa• Reader

• Documents• Search• Plus (?)• Analytics• Alerts

WHy am I mentioning Google? Hopefully, many of you have discovered what Google actually does - apart from searching.

For PR professionals Google is a one-stop communications centre, allowing you to run your office from anywhere, without a laptop (if need be).

What began as a search engine now encompasses all of these components:•e-mail•video (You Tube)•e-blogger•calendar•Photos (Picasa)•Reader (RSS)•Documents (conduct surveys)•Search (images, scholar)•Wave (the future)

•Everything is interlinked

The future ...

Sociology A mixed model Engage

Become a listener Be conversational Participation

• Youʼd have to agree that Blogs and Social Media Releases are integral components of PR. However, first understand that social media is more about sociology (how people connect) and less about technology. Itʼs the new public mall.

• The combination of blogs and SMRs are a mixed model in that theyʼre a collection of new and traditional media that spans across advertising, PR, customer service, marketing communications, sales, and community relations.

• In order to succeed now and in the future, is to bridge the gap between early adopters and everyone else – to engage in the use of new techniques

• Now itʼs not about telling - itʼs about talking, about conversations. And the best communicators start as the best listeners. This is about doing PR in a way that both works in a conversational medium, though it might be in words.

Itʼs about encouraging participation. Itʼs a two-way process out there.

Conclusions

Traditional approaches still important

Be aware

Try different techniques

Quality still the key

Just another tool

The existing news release format has been in use for more than 50 years and is unlikely to be superseded quickly. However, the past several years have witnessed an increased use of multimedia and interactive content in news releases. The top newswires, for their part, anticipated this trend and are fully equipped to distribute such material. The best PR tactic for you is to be aware of what’s available and not be too cautious to try different techniques and formats. After all, these are just more tools.• The key -- and this remains the most important factor in getting visibility for your news - - is the quality of the content in your release, regardless of the format. Writing a strong release with newsworthy information should always be foremost in your mind. Finding the best format for your content should follow. Unless the story is really newsworthy, journalists and bloggers won’t pay any attention to it. SMRs are just a new format and do not represent a tool that enforces a story into the news. As with traditional press releases, you should focus on what is really important; answer the basic journalist questions, and supplement the story with ready-to-use declarations from the CEOs and other business representatives, relevant documents and other data. This is what the new SMR puts in your hands: a tool that enables the journalist to get to the heart of the story, fast.

In conclusion, the way we do public relations is changing. If we don’t continually adapt to (and adpot) these changes and new technology we are going to be out of the game.

Today’s task/s Gmail

Twitter

The course on Google

Thu, Jul 28, 2011 -- Pre-unit orientation

Welcome to e-PR.

You'll have to do a couple of things before your first class.

1. Set up a gMail account, if you don't have one. You'll need this to access the unit through google Groups and other google tools. It would be best, however, to set up a new

one in this format (ndsurnameinitial@gmail.com). So I would be ndsmithg@gmail.

2. Set up a Twitter account. (Same as above. i.e., @ndsurnameinitial). So I would be @ndsmithg

3. Organise a DVD camera and voice recorder (most mobile phones have them, so that will suffice). You won't need those for a while, though.

Video

Shift happens

Control that genie