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Samantha Stevens :0585512

Professor: Richard Rotman

MDST 2040 :Media Relations

December 16,2009

Today, Tomorrow the Future of Social Media in Public relations

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The field of public relations(PR) continues to develop strong personal relationships with

clients. Through traditional strategies and tactics, such as press releases, press conferences and

front page photo opportunities, PR is a profession of powerful, effective and persuasive verbal

and written communication that engages journalists, audiences and future clients into the latest

trend of our generation. Today PR practitioners are taking a leap into the world of digital

communications of social media and using it in their daily practices and strategic planning. The

media industry has experienced many historic moments with the new innovative invention of

social media networking. This is a new generation of public relations where the rules of

communication between manufacture and consumer are being bended and are reaching the

customer directly through social networks like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and live podcasting

through Youtube. Social Media is a new innovative technology and corresponding network that

freely connects us, democratized the ability to publish, share content and weave more

meaningful relationships.As the World Wide Web increases it’s user participation, so does the

influence of social media and its potential to redefine the field of public relations and create a

new form of media gatekeepers formerly known as the audience. The point is that the profession

of public relations is becoming more diverse within the media industry because of social media
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and the more it steers away from traditional values, in which user participation becomes highly

significant and key for a successful PR campaign in the 21st century. Therefore,When we even

begin to think of public relations, we need to step back and remember how public relations has

transformed through out the centuries.

Public Relations dates back to ancient civilization, such as those like Babylonia, Greece

and Rome,where,“people were persuaded to accept the authority of government and religion

through common public relations techniques such as,interpersonal communications, speeches,

art, literature, staged events, publicity and other devices”1 For instance, companies like the

Boston Tea Party, inspired by Samuel Adams, refined the use of symbolism to sway public

opinion. Later on, the rise of PR practitioners and pioneers would revolutionize the media

industry with the use of public persuasion and written communication.In particular,Edward.L

Bernay’s, who was the father of modern of public relations back in the 1960s and was the

nephew of famous psychologist Sigmund Freud. Bernay’s was inspired by his uncle’s theory of

human behavior, “conceptualizing a new model of public relations that emphasized that

application of social science research and behavioral psychology to formulate campaigns and

messages that could change people’s perception and encourage certain behaviors”2. In 1929,

Bernays led a public relations campaign called Torches of Freedom March, which he had ten

carefully chosen women walk down Fifth Avenue smoking cigarettes. This was during the

1Wilcox, Dennis L., and Glenn T. Cameron. Public Relations :Strategies and Tactics. 9th ed.
United states, 2009.
2Bates, Don. "Public Relations from the Dawn of Civilization." Public Relations from the Dawn
of Civilization (2002): 1-27. Oct. 2006. Institute for Public Relations. 13 Dec. 2009
<www.instituteforpr.org>.
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advancement of feminism and the women’s right to vote civil moment, women were stepping out

the role of a house wife into the working field. Bernay’s practice of public relation strategies are

still influenced in todays’s generation of professionals, with the use of press conferences, press

releases and most importantly television appearance on talk shows during daytime broadcasting

where most women would be portraying the housewife role.Thus, his main objective of

persuading the audience continues to be part of the strategic planning model: informing the

people, persuading the people and integrating people with the people.

In the 1960s the way information was received was communicated through live television

and radio shows where the viewers saw companies advertise their products in five minute

infomercials, today in the 21st century television is becoming obsolete and the news paper is

slowly coming to an end, but the Internet is quickly replacing those mediums into one big mass

medium called the World Wide Web. The rise of social media has created a whole new

dimension to the working profession of PR, with its mobility to influence over millions of

individuals with a click of a mouse. Today the concept of a dialogue press has less emphasizes

on mass distribution of message and more on interpersonal communication.According to author

of Public Relations: Strategies and Tactics,“the Web can be used to communicate directly with

the publics by offering real-time discussions,feedback loops, places to post comments, sources

for organizational information”(59).Through the age of traditional gatekeeping like press releases

and media alerts, they still play a major component to the field of public relations but has been

altered to accommodate the change to being published online using social media in its every day

practice. The Internet has transformed into a multi purpose tool that has allowed individuals to
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communication through peer to peer video blogging using technologies like Microsoft

Messenger(MSN) and reference content back to company websites using sites like Blogger Live

Journal3 and of course Facebook 4, with their applications of creating groups and fan pages.

As PR professionals switch over to social media,the mass media maybe declining in power

and influence.Social media allows users to be interactive with other users online instantly with

no interception and this with new hype of social interaction, it will have a global impact and

create and new category. According to Wilcox,author of Public relations: Strategies and Tactics,

“mass” communications has rapidly developed in the past several years ago as the Internet

continues to reinvent itself on practically a daily basis”(68).6It’s important to understand that

social media is impacting the way we communicate as a society, as well as business within the

media is to communicate key messages effectively and gain public acceptance from fellow

3 http://www.livejournal.com/
4 http://www.facebook.com/

5 Communication in a Web 2.0 World. Toronto Ontario, Toronto Ontario. By Melinda Van Patter.
6Wilcox, Dennis L., and Glenn T. Cameron. Public Relations :Strategies and Tactics. 9th ed.
United states, 2009.
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customers and business markets.

Social media has optimized the opportunity to engage with the people formerly known as

the audience,and satisfy them with necessities to live a fulfilled lifestyle. Through digital

technology like Iphones ,PDA’S ,Blackberries and web interfaces like YouTube,Facebook and

Twitter,social networking is helping small private-owned business turn into multi-millions dollar

business’ over night. Even more so, companies like Dell-Outlets, Ford Cars U.S and even

political leaders like Barak Obama are using social media networking to expand their ideas and

enterprises without investing into paid advertising which most of it could be done at low cost or

even free though daily tweeting on Twitter or live press conferences on YouTube.Social media is

becoming the new foundation of entrepreneur and strategic model for public relations, in the

long run we could see a dramatic alter in the long tail, where most revenue is gained through free

public web hosting than paid advertisements during the late hours of the night. In the following

video called ‘SocialNomics’, explains the evolution of how the economy is become more

reliance of social media than it has ever before.

Double click to watch

7Qualman, Erik. "Social Media ROI: Socialnomics." Video blog post. Social Media ROI:
Socialnomics: Youtube. 12 Nov. 2009. 15 Dec. 2009 <http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=ypmfs3z8esI>.
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Recently, social media has revealed that according to Brian Soils, “the people who define

our audiences, by giving us a glimpse of now only who defines our market place and landscape

of influence, but also what they think, what they need to know, and what they are seeking.”8 In

modern practices of public relations, practitioners could only measure the success rate through

the number of publications being printed by news paper and through annual company reports and

sale. At the same time practitioners would spend more time brainstorming and narrowing down

to specific targeted audiences which would could have taken months to figure out through

various focus groups and telemarketing surveys.Wilcox discusses, social media“is the direct

access to key public that does not require the frustrations of working with media gatekeepers.

Many of the emerging technologies are interactive, affording the two-way communication that is

so vital in professional public relations, instead of depending on television programming.”(366)

Social media on the other hand did exactly those same tactics but at low costs and results were

much faster. Websites like Facebook, Twitter could measure the amount of user interest, just by

what people talk about with their family and friends and simple key words that were mentioned

during a particular conversation.

Social Media and PR is emerging into a new subculture phenomena,where it’s

transforming the online-blogging into self promotion and new stream of citizen journalism. This

do it yourself(DYI) scene allows audiences to become the gatekeepers of the content,

administrating it to various resources and networking amongst themselves about the latest trends.

8Solis, Brain. "Our Journey Defines Our Future in Social Media." Web log post. PR 2.0 The
Future of Communication starts here. 9 Nov. 2009. 12 Dec. 2009 <http://www.briansolis.com/
2009/11/gazing-into-the-future-of-social-media-to-appreciate-the-past/>.
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Looking at traditional media communication channels like the television and radio, the audience

would have to sit through a five minute advertisement to understand the companies idea and

product. On the other hand, social media allowed viewers to explore not only the product

through the company websites in podcasts and applications and chose what content felt

important to them. This emerged a new stream of journalism where they are finding social media

to be a useful resource for capturing stories and newsworthy content. Dan Glimmor, author of

We the Media comments,

“the coverage of important events by nonprofessional journalists is only part of the

story.What also matters is the fact that people are having their say.This is one of the healthiest

media developments in a long time. We are hearing new voices—not necessarily the voices of

people who want to make a living by speaking out, but who want to say what they think and be

heard, even if only by relatively few people.”9

Bloggers like Perez Hilton, used social media as a form of publicity not for himself as a blogger

but for the individuals he was gossiping about,which turned him into a media icon within the

media sphere.

Communication tools like v-blogs,podcasts and Twitter allowed companies to post their

press releases and news conferences online for journalists to have access for internal checking

and easy access. As well it was efficient and reliable for journalists to gain public opinions and

reactions to daily events. Don Peat, a journalist from the Toronto Sun, mentions that the

influence of social media helps journalists gather news, hear what people are feelings and are

9Gillmor, Dan. We the Media - Grassroots Journalism by the People, for the People. Authorama,
2004. We the Media. Authorama. 11 Dec. 2009 <http://www.authorama.com/we-the-
media-8.html>.
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experiencing. He comments about the impact of social media and the benefits of using social

media in his daily practices. He explains, “for the Toronto strike we were following Twitter, we

would research it a couple of times a day to experience what people were feeling.If someone is

complaining about long line ups at one station we could go there and interview people”10. Thus,

social is assisting other fields in the media industry, helping journalists report on the news and

develop interesting stories. A recent study conducted by Market Wire, stated that “ 98% of

journalists go online everyday, 76% search for sources online and 73% of journalists search for

press releases. 11

Finally looking at some of the most historic case studies that involved the use of social

media and where companies have been very successful in using traditional practices and the use

of the Internet. First was the Dell Outlet campaign, which attracted over 11,000 Twitter

followers, which was launched in early March of 2007. The company generated over $1 million

in revenue. Their strategy according to Stefaine Nelson, was to offer their Twitter followers with

exclusive offers with money saving coupons that could not be obtained through regular

advertising. As well they optimized their customer service by providing technological support for

Dell computer users with round the clock service. Nelson comments in the video interview that

their goal was to tweet about two to three times a daily enabling customer quality service and

providing more information than just buying deals for their followers.12 Another campaign that

10 "Media Relations assignment." Personal interview. 10 Oct. 2009.

11Van Patter, Melinda. "Humber College-SEO Enhanced News Release." PR 2.0 AND?THE
EVOLUTION OF THE NEWS RELEASE. University of Guelph-Humber, Etobicoke. 14 Oct.
2009.
12Pearson, Bob. "Twerrific News?New Dell Deals Exclusive to Twitter." Video blog post.
Direct2Dell. 11 Dec. 2009 <http://en.community.dell.com/blogs/direct2dell/archive/2009/02/03/
twerrific-news-new-dell-deals-exclusive-to-twitter.aspx>.
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made front pages of trade magazines was Ford’s Fiesta Movement Campaign. Scott Monty,

Ford’s social media boss, used social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter to generate a

buzz for the Festia, “which will bring Europe’s “small cool cars” to America” in 2010. With

strategic researching and audience targeting, Ford was able to find their audiences called “

millennials” through a research done by Microsoft finding that, “those born between 1979 and

1996. Some 70 million millennials will be driving next year, and Ford is targeting the Fiesta

squarely at them. A Microsoft study found 77 percent of millennials use a social networking site

like Facebook or MySpace daily and 28 percent of them have a personal blog.”13.So far, they

have been tweeting on the Ford’s Fiesta Twitter page as well as Flickr page that hosts over 80

pictures of the model and of course a YouTube account that features over hundreds of videos for

car lovers.

Overall these two cases provide a prime example of public relations having an influence

of the web,allowing the audience to have the world at their fingertips. As as student who is

currently studying public relations and the field of media relations, I believe this could be a start

of a new media market. With the current economic unemployment rate within Canada, this will

create millions of jobs within the public relations sector, hiring web designers, and professional

bloggers to do their online communications from the bedrooms of their own home. Even more

so, the qualifications of a public relations practitioners will require the knowledge of these social

media networking websites to better improve the companies that have not currently switched

over the online interface. It’s interesting to see how dynamic the Internet has come along ways

13Barry, Keith. "Ford Bets the Fiesta on Social Networking." Wired 17 Apr. 2009. Keith Barry.
14 Dec. 2009 <http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/04/how-the-fiesta/>.
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from it’s first use of publishing only scientific research reports for scientist to generating revenue

and establishing newsworthy stories through online publication and blogging forums. Social

media should never be taken for granted, in the next few years everything will be on the web,

currently telephone communication through applications like SKYPE are making impact across

the lobe and the invention of the telephone may be history.

Works Cited

Barry, Keith. "Ford Bets the Fiesta on Social Networking." Wired 17 Apr. 2009. Keith Barry. 14

Dec. 2009 <http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/04/how-the-fiesta/>.

Bates, Don. "Public Relations from the Dawn of Civilization." Public Relations from the Dawn

of Civilization (2002): 1-27. Oct. 2006. Institute for Public Relations. 13 Dec. 2009

<www.instituteforpr.org>.

Communication in a Web 2.0 World. Toronto Ontario, Toronto Ontario. By Melinda Van Patter.

Gillmor, Dan. We the Media - Grassroots Journalism by the People, for the People. Authorama,

2004. We the Media. Authorama. 11 Dec. 2009 <http://www.authorama.com/we-the-

media-8.html>.

"Media Relations assignment." Personal interview. 10 Oct. 2009.

Pearson, Bob. "Twerrific News?New Dell Deals Exclusive to Twitter." Video blog post.

Direct2Dell. 11 Dec. 2009 <http://en.community.dell.com/blogs/direct2dell/archive/

2009/02/03/twerrific-news-new-dell-deals-exclusive-to-twitter.aspx>.
 11

Qualman, Erik. "Social Media ROI: Socialnomics." Video blog post. Social Media ROI:

Socialnomics: Youtube. 12 Nov. 2009. 15 Dec. 2009 <http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=ypmfs3z8esI>.

Solis, Brain. "Our Journey Defines Our Future in Social Media." Web log post. PR 2.0 The

Future of Communication starts here. 9 Nov. 2009. 12 Dec. 2009 <http://

www.briansolis.com/2009/11/gazing-into-the-future-of-social-media-to-appreciate-the-

past/>.

Van Patter, Melinda. "Communicating in a Web 2.0 World." Chart. Humber College-SEO

Enhanced News Release. Toronto,Ontario: Market News Wire, 2009.

Van Patter, Melinda. "Humber College-SEO Enhanced News Release." PR 2.0 AND?THE

EVOLUTION OF THE NEWS RELEASE. University of Guelph-Humber, Etobicoke. 14

Oct. 2009.

Wilcox, Dennis L., and Glenn T. Cameron. Public Relations :Strategies and Tactics. 9th ed.

United states, 2009.