INTRODUCTION

While the impact of new communication technologies has not changed the purpose of
public relations, or its strategic value to organizations, it has caused a significant shift in
how public relations is practiced in particular areas. Specifically,social media has allowed
public relations practitioners to more directly communicate with various stakeholder
groups. New communication tactics have emerged in this era of information, and many
practitioners have adopted social media as an integral aspect of their communication
campaigns. Audiences, for the most part, no longer simply accept that organizations
communicate via social media, they have come to expect it. One area that has not seen
widespread adoption of social media as a communication tool is media relations (Wilson
& Supa, 2013). And while many critics have questioned the continuing value of
traditional media relations tools (such as the press release), practitioners today continue to
be actively engaged in media relations as a primary area of practice (Darnowski, Distaso,
Fussell Sisco, & McCorkindale, 2013). The relationship between public relations
practitioners and celebritiess, then, remains a very important aspect of many campaigns,
and thus for many organizations. Effectively managing these relationships often means
that the public relations practitioner must constantly maintain communication, build
credibility and trust, and provide the celebrities with information that is relevant about the
organization (Howard & Mathews, 2006). It would seem, then, that social media provides
an excellent vehicle for communication between public relations practitioners.
What Are Social Media
When many people think of social media, they think of Facebook and Twitter. However, s
ocial media do not just include social networking sites, but also blogs, forums,
message boards, photo sharing, podcasts, RSS (really simple syndication),search engine
marketing, video sharing, Wikis, social networks, professional networks, and microblogging sites
(Wright and Hinson, 2009).
As stated by Wright and Hinson (2009) and reported by the International Association of
Business Communicators, more than half of all Internet users have joined a social netw
ork, social networks have become the number one platform for creating and
sharing content and nearly 75 percent of all Internet users have read a blog (Young, 2009
).
Although social media are impacting the way many organizations communicate and more
people becoming active with these new channels, the definition of what social media
encapsulates is undetermined due to the rise of many different forms. No two people are
defining this media the same way.
How Social Media are impacting the Public Relations practice
According to Larry Weber (2009), as stated by Wright & Hinson (2009),
The 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 the eyes of the public. In the past, public relations practitioners were
responsible for packaging content and then distributing it to the media in hopes of being p
ublished. Today, practitioners are still responsible for packaging the content; however, the
y are now able to publish the content themselves through blogs, social networks and other
online media outlets. Practitioners still send information to the traditional media, but they
are now also able to talk directly to the public, view the publics responses, and act accor
dingly. For example, when a consumer tweets about a bad experience, the company can v
iew these comments and respond immediately to provide more direct service to its
customers.
Traditional Media
Traditional Media is a method of communication or a form of publication traditionally
used to distribute news and information. Cave paintings, homing pigeons and books were
some of the earliest forms of traditional communication, or media. According to Solis
(2010) traditional media, also referred to as old media, is defined as media introduced
before the advent of internet and that uses various pre-internet media platforms such as
magazines,books, newspapers, radio and television.
The history of traditional media platforms dates back to 59BC when Julius Caesar
introduced a daily sheet Acta Diurna (Daily Events), which was posted around Rome.
The next major innovation came in the mid-1400s when Johannes Gutenberg first
introduced printing press and by the 1500s and 1600s many sporadic newspapers had
been launched across Europe. The first American newspaper, Publick Occurences,
appeared in Boston in 1690. Daily newspapers in both Europe and America gained
momentum throughout the 1700s and 1800s as printing and postal technologies improved
(Toddand, 2006) In the early 1900s radio technology was introduced with motion picture
technology following closely behind. By 1930, the popularity of radio has spread all over
the world and some people were already enjoying the first television broadcasts.
Throughout the 1930s television developed significantly and by the 1950s had become
one of the most popular means of reaching mass audience. In 1951, the first computer
was sold commercially and in 1994, 43 years later, the World Wide Web was introduced.
Other forms of traditional marketing include television spots or commercials, as well as
radio spots advertising a business, product or service.Kotler (2003) describes traditional
marketing as a collective process where individuals or groups can exchange goods or
services based on their needs and wants. E. Jermo McCar-thy for the first time in 1960
presented this process as a mixture of useful elements for marketing, which is referred to
as the Marketing Mix. McCartys presentation gave birth to the Marketing Mix theory.
Kotler (2008) defines the marketing mix as a set of controllable tactical marketing tools
that the firm blends to produce the response it wants in the target market. Kotler further
states that this mix consists of everything the firm can do to influence the demand for its

product and categorises these tools into four main groups of variables known as the 4
Ps: Product, Price, Place and Promotion. Kotler (2008) gives the following brief
definitions for the 4 Ps.
Product
Anything that can be offered to the market for attention, acquisition, use or consumption
that might satisfy a want or a need. It includes physical objects, services, persons, places,
organisation and ideas.
Price
Refers to the amount of money charged for a product or service, or the sum of the values
that consumers exchange for the benefits of having or using the product or service.
Promotion
Means activities that communicate the merits of the product and persuade target customers to buy it.
Place
Includes company activities that make the product available to target customers.
According to Kotler, each grouping has its own sets of marketing tools such as variety,
quality and design for Product; list price, discounts for Price; advertising, personal selling
for Promotion; and inventory, channels for Place. However, for the purpose of this dissertation attention is given only to the promotional part of the mix, specifically to
advertising.
Traditional marketing utilizes traditional media outlets, such as radio, TV and print
media,such as magazines and newspapers, to convey its message to the target audience.
To achieve its objective traditional media marketing uses the technique of mass
advertising, i.e. sending marketing messages to a very huge mass audience. This concept
is based on an assumption that when a marketing message is sent out to a very huge mass
probability of converting some of the audience into a consumer is higher. However, some
experts believe that in traditional marketing messages targeting mass audience result in a
waste of advertisement resources by addressing both target groups and non-target groups.
This idea is supported by Charles Ramond (1978) in the Journal of Advertising Research,
who referred to media waste as noise, a kind of pollutant in the air(as cited by
Chiagouris and Lala). In addition this one-size-fits-all approach of advertising in mass
marketing is against the basic assumption of the marketing concept, according to which
products and services should be produced and marketed based on the expressed needs and
wants of their consuming public. In the traditional marketing setup most businesses are
characterized by practicing product-centred marketinga marketing approach that
prioritises the sales of a particular product or group of products above all other marketing
objectives. Despite the achievements of traditional media marketing, several criticisms
have been made by the industry experts about traditional media marketing practices.
According to Bell and Emory, (1971) the most common criticism faced by traditional
media marketing is the use of manipulative marketing. The authors define manipulative
marketing as a way of delivering misleading advertisement through hard selling with the

objective of creating demand to meet the requirements of supply. Bell and Emory, (1971)
assert because of this in 1960s major corporations have been accused of: a) misleading
and manipulating children through TV advertising; b) producing merchandise with
miracle ingredients which in fact are of little value; c)advertising ordinary or inferior
features in a way that suggests that they are actually superior features; d) using
advertising in a way that exploits the agonies and anxieties of consumers etc.
According to Celsi (1991) the excess use of manipulative marketing has resulted in the
birth of consumer countervailing power (a) in a form of consumersorganizations; (b) in a
form of legislations that increasingly reinforces consumerslegal rights promoted by authorities and (c) in a form of self-discipline by companies and adoption of the rules of
ethics have also contributed to the development of a more ethical behaviour. As a result it
has become very clear for marketers that manipulative marketing is self-destructive for
corporation or a brand and goes against its perceived long-term interest.