by Azran Haji Awang
Although the first two annual trend studies in the area of blogs and social media concentrated mainly on how employees communicate via blogs and ethical aspects of this communication, the 2008 and 2009 studies have taken a more broad perspective. Although some of the questions asked in 2008 and 2009 are similar to measures explored in the 2006 and 2007 studies, a number of new questions were added in each of the past two years. While the researchers still are able to compare current thinking against some of the earlier benchmarks, this year’s research also provides the opportunity to analyze important new ground.
The fourth annual (2009), international, trend study examination of public relations practitioners on the impact blogs and other social media are having on public relations practice once again finds these technologies are dramatically changing public relations and the way it is practiced. Results of this year’s study show considerably more agreement in some areas than was the case in previous years.
Last year (2008), it reported that 61 percent of the respondents believed the emergence of blogs and social media had changed the way their organizations (or their client organizations) communicate. This year the score on that item is 73 percent. Findings continue to suggest these changes are more prominent in external than internal communications but numbers are up considerably there also. The majority (93%) of this year’s respondents spent part of their average workdays with some aspects of blogs and the social media. Many (85% in 2009 compared with 72% in 2008) believe social media complement traditional news media, and an even higher number (92% in 2009 compared with 89% in 2008) think blogs and social media influence coverage in traditional news media. Most (88% in 2009 compared with 84% in 2008) believe blogs and social media have made communications more instantaneous because they encourage organizations to respond more quickly to criticism.
Results continue to show that traditional news media receive higher scores than blogs and social media in terms of accuracy, credibility, telling the truth and being ethical. Findings also show most (80% this year and 75% last year) expect traditional news media to be honest, tell the truth and be ethical. Fewer than half (41% in 2009 and 44% in 2008) hold these same expectations for blogs and other social media.
This year’s (2009) study also asked a number of questions for the first time. Results of these annual measures find:
I. Although more than 90% of the study’s respondents encourage the use of research to measure various aspects of how blogs and social media are impacting their organizations, only about one-third (39%) say their companies are conducting this measurement.
II. Although there is a very strong agreement (more than 90%) that measurement and evaluation about blogs and social media should focus not only on outputs but also on content analysis and outcomes, in reality most of what’s being conducted is directed at outputs.
III. Most (93%) of the respondents to this survey report they spend some time working with blogs and other social media during a typical business day. This includes 30 percent who spend between 11 and 25 percent of their time working in these areas and 48 percent who spend between one and ten percent.
IV. About one-third (31%) of the respondents are aware of situations in which an organization’s legal function has impacted how the company manages blog and social media communication.
Highlights of responses to the study’s open-ended questions include a recurring suggestion that blogs and social media have had a huge impact moving public relations into the direction of facilitating more two-way communication by opening up direct channels of communications between organizations and their publics. Other comments of note:
I. “They provide a cost-free forum for the expression of ideas, information and opinion”.
II. “They increase the immediacy of communication and offer platforms for public opinion on various issues”.
III. “Blogs have enabled our clients to directly reach their target audiences in a cost-effective manner”.
IV. “They help us reach new, younger audiences that we might not get to through traditional news media”.
V. “Blogs and social media are how one communicates in today’s global world”.
VI. “The new media enable companies to quickly learn what publics and consumers are saying about their products and services”.
VII. “They give ordinary people media to communicate through without gatekeepers”.
VIII. “There are places for professionals to go to now because of social media, i.e. Linkedin and Facebook”.
IX. Blogs and social media are more personal and they bypass traditional mass media to get to audiences and create dialogue”.
X. “Public relations has not yet caught up to the value opportunities here”.
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