Classmates' Blogs

Amy Hardman’s blog brings up some good points about social media and how it works in the world today.  Online and the web have opened up many opportunities for researchers to reach a different type of audience.  As Hardman says in her blog on Qualitative Research & Social Media, “The social web has re-shaped how people communicate, both personally and professionally, with others.”  I agree with this statement.  Many more people are communicating through the web.  This has opened so many more doors for gathering research. 

I really enjoyed reading Kelley McDonough’s blog.  She made good points about honoring the ethics of everyone involved in a focus group, which is a type of qualitative research.  I am not sure that agree that giving an incentive is unethical, but to some people consider it to be.  I can understand how some people could see this practice as being a bribe and an enticement to get volunteers to come to the focus group.  As Kelley McDonough said in her blog, having an incentive can also change people’s behaviors and attitudes just so they can participate and get what they really came for in the end.  If an incentive helps to get people to participate honestly isn’t it worth it?

Both of these blogs explained their points of view really well.  It was nice to see how others view certain aspects of public relations. Both blogs talked about qualitative research, but in two totally different ways.  It is interesting to see different people’s opinions on the same topic.    

Technology Helps Increase Productivity

Over the past few years, technology has really helped to increase productivity in Public Relations.  Everything is immediate on the internet.  A blog is posted the minute submit button is pressed.  Facebook, a social network, will show you updates of posting the minute you sign on.  “A recent survey found that 89% of journalists rely on blogs when researching stories, while 65% turn to Facebook or LinkedIn, and 52% get information from Twitter.”

            Public Relations professionals have three tips for using technology in the work environment.

1.      Pick a group of technology tools that will work well together.  Always check to make sure that the tools you pick will work well with the technology you already have, whether it is Microsoft Word, Windows or Mac. 

2.      Getting someone’s input on a document is a good idea.  Documents should be stored in a shared workspace so that others may view them. 

3.      Do not use paper “to-do” lists.  Use an online task management system to keep track of what you need to do.  This will have tools for long – term planning, and with a group, project time management will be easier. 

Using technology will help public relations professionals manage their projects better and more efficiently.  Also, productivity will increase, and has increased, with the use of information technology by businesses.  All in all, the use of technology in public relations has increased and has made a large and positive difference in this field.    

SlideShare

Have you ever heard of SlideShare before?  SlideShare is the world’s largest online community that stores and shares presentations.  SlideShare is a professional community that allows business media to share presentations with the public.  A business can place all different types of documents on SlideShare.  These can be used in presentations.  These documents and pdf files can be added to  presentation.  Not only does the information stay on SideShare, but the content also spreads through Facebook, Linkedln, and Twitter. 

I had never heard of SlideShare before.  I feel that this is a really great way for Public Relations to grow.  This social network can help Public Relations in many ways.  First, SlideShare helps get information out to the public.  While the information is being shared there can also be someone talking about the business on this network.  This can help the target audience get personal information about a company. They will be able to have an experience and not just read the information.  Secondly, being able to put documents and pdfs on the internet will help with communication throughout and between the companies.  Public Relations staff will have to be careful, when they post documents, that these are not used in the wrong way.  Finally, this is yet another way companies can reach out to the public.  This technology is a great method to share documents will many people.

Blogging and Podcasting

Blogging has turned into something bigger than anyone expected.  People all over the world are creating blogs.  Whether it is for communication or business reasons, many people are using blogs.  This is good for people in public relations because it is a good way for companies to connect with the public.  To be used effectively, blogs have to be regularly updated.  The company’s public relations team has to keep the blog up to date and relevant to what is happening in their company at any given time.   The negative aspect to blogging is that people can post comments that could hurt the company’s reputation.  Anyone can see and respond to these comments.  The blog has to be monitored to make sure that negative comments don’t appear or are removed quickly. 

Podcasting has also become very popular.  A podcast is when audio or video is posted on the web.  This is good for public relations because it is another way to communicate messages to the public.  Podcasting offers a controlled message that can be sent out for others to see.  This is better than the media getting the message first and relaying it to the public, because the public could interpret the message incorrectly.  With a podcast the message will be heard and/or seen in the way the company’s public relations department meant it to be seen.  The company’s message is expressed in a way that benefits the company.

Both of these technological advances are helpful to public relations because they provide new methods for getting information out to the public.  Blogging is not as controlled as a podcast message, but both are wonderful tools.  Each tool is an advancement in increasing the public’s knowledge through technology.  Companies will be using this technology and social media for years to come.

This article is called Plugging In New PR Technologies, by Joanna Kulesa.