Public Relations & the Impact of New Media

Perhaps no one has had a greater impact in the field of public relations as Edward Bernays. He was named one of the 20th century most influential people by LIFE magazine, yet most people don’t even know his name. Known as the “father of public relations”, Bernays was born in Austria in 1891, but his family moved to New York when he was one year old. He would go on to graduate from Cornell with a degree in agriculture, but instead of becoming a farmer he decided on becoming a journalist. During World War 1 he helped the Woodrow Wilson administration to promote the idea that US efforts would bring democracy to Europe. It was during this period that Bernays began to understand the power of propaganda and wondered if it could be used just as effective

Public Relations (PR) can sometimes be grouped in with the advertising and marketing industry, but the industry has continued to expand with the increasing digital media platforms and the need to relay information to targeted audiences. The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) defines public relations as “a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics” (“About Public Relations”). The annual revenue of the global relations industry generated more than $14 billion with the U.S. accounting for $12 billion with experts believing it will keep expanding (“Public Relation Services” 2).

The most recent definition of public relations, according to the Public Relations Society of America (2012), states that “Public Relations is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.” Through the rapid advancement of modern media and technology, there have never been more outlets and opportunities available for accomplishing the goals of public relations. Believing the development of social media has not created serious changes in the way public relations practitioners go about their duties would be foolish and a fast track to falling behind in this rapid world of communication. The main goals of public relations are “to

When individuals are not use to voicing their opinions, their minds often go to a standstill and thoughts are lost,. They live daily just hoping they can work hard enough to move out of the circumstances they are currently in. “ Public relations provides the tools

Over the past decade, social media use has been increasing at an expeditious rate. According to Pew Research Center, 86% of Americans are active internet users, and the number of active social media users is increasing daily. As of 2016, Facebook has 1.6 billion users, Instagram has 430 million users, LinkedIn has 429 million users, and Twitter has 325 million users. With those numbers in mind, why wouldn 't the public relations agency utilize these free platforms as a way to gain publicity? My digital project raises the question of “how has the public relations industry changed over the past decade, due to the increase in use of social media?” Patricia Swann (2014), states that “public relations is the management function that establishes and maintains mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and the publics on whom its success and failure depends” (p. 2). Strategy is a large aspect of public relations, and gives us reasoning behind all the communication activities done throughout the work day. Having a set strategy allows us to target specific missions, goals, audiences. Public relations practitioners rely on their audience to support their missions and goals. Gaining another way to put forth these strategies—via social media, has the ability to change the field of public relations in a prodigious way. With the rise of social media, some may argue that it is now easier for practitioners to communicate more effectively and timely with their

Due to the world's rapid change through advanced technology public relation became more and more a global activity. Nowadays it is one of the fastest-growing

Therefore Bernay gives us three tendencies of fundamental importance’s. Tendency number one, “increase public interest in industrial aggregations” (Bernay, 1923, p. 66). The first tendency basically tells PR practitioners that it is important to keep their clients and public happy. They need to find a way to make themselves stay relevant and keeping up with what the public want. Second tendency “the increased readiness of the public, due to spread of literacy and democratic forms of government” (Bernay, 1923, p. 66). News spread out like wildfires, when a controversy happens within the government or entertainment industry, public relations has to keep up with it and put that fire out, or else people will keep on misunderstanding and demanding information. Lastly tendency three, “keen competition for public favor due to modern methods of ‘selling’” (Bernays, 1923. P 66). The public relations field is as competitive like every other career fields out there. To be a good practitioner you need to have networking and being able to handle any sort situations, that is what will keep you high in the competition.

Specialists are constantly having to “spin the story” and create a more optimal image for their client. The world of Public Relations is a constant evolving art form where specialists must have their thumbs into many pies and a spider web of interconnecting contacts and sources,

Nowadays it has turned out to be fundamental for advertising to participate in a consistent exchange with people in general. As the routes in which individuals transmit and get data are quickly developing so should the courses in which PR communicates with the general population. With new devices that are interested in PR experts for imparting like E-sends, sites, computerized/online bulletins, web journals, viral advertising, web indexes, live phone calls, RSS, and podcasting. (Aronson, Spetner and Ames, 2007, p. 1), new media gives improved data conveyance frameworks and giving everybody with simple access to vehicles of mass correspondence. Theaker (2008) demonstrates that "Sites are as of now viewed as a standard component of corporate communications, and PR professionals ought to be included when customers set up sites," "The Internet gives the one of a kind chance to individuals of any age to get, process, and comprehend a message through pictures, illustrations, video, sound and other visual presentations which the customary media couldn 't assemble to impart viably." (Macky, 2011, p. 1).

According to L’ Etang (2007), Impression Management in the past appeared to be a tactic of manipulation in Public Relations. As the theory governs a process to construct an image, PR practitioners were accused of being image makers who use symbols or messages to control how the organization is perceived (Grunig, 1993, p. 125). Grunig describes images makers as people who “create and project an image out of nothing” and in agreement, his research proposed that this production of organizationally controlled messages for the purpose of manipulating media images was indeed manipulation. In Addition, L’Etang, states “In the 1960’s Impression Management was seen as something artificial that interfered with real and authentic relationships. In the 1970’s it was acknowledged as a form of behaviour but seen as invariably negative and as deceptive and manipulation.”

Public Relations, an introduction. This book appealed to me simply because I do not have much knowledge about the subject yet, and perhaps this one could help me start my journey into PR. Also, my bag was already quite full and heavy, and I had to drag it back to the McMillan Student Village from the

As Johnston (2002) stated, “Today, with distrust of the corporate world at an all-time high, corporate credibility is an over-riding factor. Whether they like it or not, companies today are at the mercy of public constituencies. That means there is growing recognition of the need to foster a good reputation by developing positive relationships with various publics.” (para.4). PR has become one of the most unique and versatile business professions that exist. It is being integrated into so many aspects of a business now: coaching spokespeople on how to interview and interact with the public properly; advertising campaigns; overseers for editorials; marketing techniques etc. You name it and there is a good chance that PR is a part of it in some shape or form.

Public relations is a 100-year-old discipline, yet it is still hard for many people to define. Even public relations practitioners will hesitate when asked to give it a definition. Public relations involves so many different things. One practitioner’s job might be to write a newsletter to a company’s employees. Another’s job might be to contact media outlets to get their company’s event covered. Public relations is difficult to define because of its evolution through history and lack of consensus throughout the field. Throughout its history, public relations has taken many forms and evolved from the pageantry of PT Barnum to the complex communication discipline it is today.

Only recently being recognized as a discipline in itself, modern day professional public relations practices can trace its roots to the early 1900s where the first public relations firm, the Publicity Bureau, was founded in Boston. In 1923, Austrian-American public relations pioneer, Edward Bernays, identified three fundamental concepts of public relations. In 1984, American theorists, Grunig and Hunt, conceptualized the now-famous four models of public relations and the excellence theory that were generally adopted by public relation agencies across the globe. With so many significant milestones and theories of public relations established in the United States, it stands to reason that public relation practices would naturally adopt a western perspective.

This article examines the important role of social media to public relations practitioners. The researcher wants to investigate the innovation of social media through the case study of Obama presidential campaign and public health issue. Moreover social media can bring destruction to the organization, if the user misuses the social media. Social media has brought a new challenge to the society. The researcher use intensive interview and focus group toward public relations practitioners to explore how important the social media did to them and the negative outcome of social media. The researcher use quantitative method – survey to examine the appetency of the social media among different size of community.