by: Siti Sophia Mohammed Abdul Halim (20087995550)
We have seen in the past few years how new media and technology has revolutionised the way we communicate. Services and announcements are made to the world through the click of a button. The instant tweet post informs us of what is happening in Cairo by the seconds while Facebook has allowed us to keep in touch with childhood acquaintances from miles away. As a result, public relations practitioners have become more involved in what is referred to as electronic-PR (Kent et al., 2003). This includes activities such as website creation, maintenance and monitoring of blogs, creation of e-mails and e-newsletters, among many others. Web technologies used as e-PR tools enabled a shift away from the web as passive information highway to a dynamic platform for the exchange of real communication and experience. Today, self-expression, participation, dialogue and creation and maintenance of relationships within virtual communities is now possible.
In their study of the use of e-PR, Kitchen and Panapoulos examines the influence of Rogers attributes associated with innovation adoption (1995) in the context of demographic characteristics of PR in Greece as the nation adopts and utilize the internet for PR purposes. The study found connections between age, trialability, working experience, and adoption. Identifying the factors that affect the adoption of the internet by PR managers can assist organizations and practitioners to improve their relations with stakeholder publics in the digital world.
Diffusion of innovation is particularly important for contextual and cultural reasons. Culture comprises a fundamental set of criteria affecting the disposition of public relations, and studies of public relations practice generally tend to ignore. In Greece, culture is particularly important as the widespread use of the internet was delayed compared to other EU members (Eurostat, 2005) because of attitudinal and technological difficulties such as lack of information and knowledge, low support, conflicts between PR and IT departments.
In public relations, innovations now include Web 2.0 technologies such as multi-user interactions, 3D animation, open objective environments and user generated contents, audio and video transmission, blogging, instant messages and chat. Social networking websites such as Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and Linkedin and games of virtual worlds like second life have facilitated a greater freedom and realism to on-line communications. In these and many other ways, PR practitioner’s use of the internet can be seen as an adoption and innovation process deviating from traditional offline approaches.
The study found that in Greece, the widespread adoption of e-PR activities occur even in conservative sectors such as financial services and stock markets. This is evident of a relationship between the factors derived from diffusion theory, led by trialability, and followed by the other factors. The study also discovered that the PR departments examined are now staffed mainly by young well-informed, technologically sophisticated professionals. The demographics showed that the relatively short period of time in PR employment reveal a need to bring in new blood, and certainly with anticipation of usage of new skills, rather than in developing such skills in those that may be resistant to change.
The findings revealed that those PR practitioners understand the relative advantages of internet use, disregard or have overcome associated complexities. They are aware of the compatibility between physical and digital PR activities, and engage in its use. However, some still want to trial such activities before commitment.
Trialability is positively correlated with both compatibility and observability. Thus the effect of trialability on the diffusion of e-PR will increase if deliverable and tangible results are observable during the trial period, thereby connecting the benefits alongside traditional PR activities. Practitioners should engage in trialability relating to all forms of new technologically based communications, including e-PR, before adoption. Thus, PR campaigns can be disseminated in a variety of integrated ways, according to the needs, wants, and requirements of stakeholders, publics, and audiences.
Nonetheless in Greece, traditional activities still dominate electronic ones. A possible explanation is that through the age variable PR practitioners express their stresses, fears and pressures in relation to the adoption process. Younger practitioners with no or little experience seem to be more reluctant to adopt the internet for PR purposes when compared to more fully tried and tested traditional alternate modalities. This is due to the pressure to use internet for PR purposes among younger practitioners as they are more computer literate and comfortable with this medium.
The e-PR process is also influenced by age and working experience. The gender of practitioners is not a predictor of the adoption process in contrast to the outcome of other similar studies. As far as PR working experience is concerned, a negative correlation with the adoption of e-PR was found. Perhaps via this outcome resistance to change and discontent to the need of use and learning new technologies is depicted. When someone is used to business in a certain way then it is difficult to trial, adopt, or use new technologies and applications. This elevates the importance of compatibility in the adoption of e-PR.
This study is of great importance in relation to the rise of e-PR and its adoption and diffusion. The process of adoption can provide organizations and PR managers with a framework to be utilized when new internet applications are used. In this way practitioners can adopt in less time, overcome knowledge-based or technological gaps, and subsequently face fewer problems with greater effectiveness in the new digital arena of the 21st century.
Source: Kitchen, P. & Panopoulus, A. (2010). Online Public Relations: The Adoption Process and Innovation Challenge, A Greek Example. Public Relations Review, Vol. 36, 222-229.
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