Social Media And Public Relations Essay

Social media is the collective term used to describe websites or applications which allow people to interact and socialise online, and in today’s society it is becoming a popular source for public opinion. This creating a necessity for businesses to use public relations in a way which can integrate both traditional media and new media to allow them to be seen by their publics. Public Relations is described as ‘the discipline which looks after reputation, with the aim of earning understanding and support and influencing opinion and behaviour.’ (CIPR) and in the age of digital and social media the way in which public relations is having to change to accommodate the shift to these channels is questioning whether public relations will convert from

He summarised that social media if done correctly with public relations will with no doubt create a two way communications channel with the business taking ownership of their social responsibilities. By using social media as a two-way interactive approach public relations practitioners can reach their audiences and try to diminish suspicion that public relations is solely about reputation management. While most studies celebrate the impact of social media in public relations it should be of note that there are a few scholars who see that there can be obstacles to the two-way interaction it provides. ‘two-way communications exist only if there is a flow of conversations between organizations—not as abstract entities, but as assemblages of recognizable individuals—and publics’ (Valentini, 2015) Here Valentini highlights that without engagements from publics social media becomes a one-way dialogue matching that of traditional media. Further studies (Lee et al) also show that in some cases practitioners are aware and are of acceptance that social media to them and their business is a one-way dialogue process. This securing the notion that practitioners sometimes use social media to keep with the times and not as a way of understanding and effectively shaping relationships with their publics. Other disadvantages of social media for public relations is the time it takes to look after these channels, with social media being constantly available to their publics practitioners must stay proactive in keeping users engaged with the business along with having an accurate understanding of these ever changing channels and demographics. (BinShaikh et al, 2011, Norton, C. 2012) Likewise fraud is seen as a potential disadvantage as anyone can claim to be a