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.