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So a week has passed since the deadline for my CIPR Diploma CRT and I have been too busy enjoying having my life back to find time to blog. It’s one excuse after another with blogging - too busy working to blog then too busy having fun to blog.
I actually completed my CRT a few days before the due date as I had a busy weekend planned and did not want the CRT hanging over me. Last weekend I went to see Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong at Warwick University Students’ Union, the Kooks at Birmingham Academy and a friends new apartment and this weekend I went to a friends pre-wedding meal at the Mailbox and another friends engagement party! The social calendar is full to make up for the hermit I became for the month of April.
The Kooks, Naive, Live at Birmingham Academy
Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong (live but not at Warwick SU) - definitely worth catching live if you get the opportunity!
On Saturday I will be heading to Nottingham for the fourth of my CIPR Dimploma taught sessions and it will be the first session of the second module which focuses on planning and management in preparation for our second assessment in August. I was planning to publish my first assignment online here but I thought I should wait to see how good/bad it was before sharing! If the two essays (one on PR and Blogging and the second on PR and Ethical Propaganda) are any good then expect to see them here in June! Fingers crossed!
In the meantime, here’s a preview of my PR and Blogging essay:
Expectations from media, clients and audiences about new technologies are placing increasing pressure on public relations practitioners to increase their use of new technologies (Lordan, 2001). Whilst new technologies won’t replace traditional tools used in public relations the cost to PR practitioners in not using these tools will be in losing their competitive edge to those who have mastered new technology (Anderson and Reagan, 1992 cited in Lordan 2001). As advice to PR practitioners considering entering the blogosphere, Porter et al (2007) suggest an evolutionary approach in which “Practitioners begin using blogs routinely for informational purposes – seeking out alternative viewpoints, the latest news and experimenting with blogs for research purposes. Then use shifts to a more professional – albeit passive – orientation. This issues identification factor allows practitioners to continue to use blogs for information but in a more strategic and professional manner. The final step in the evolution of blog use is to begin engaging in two-way communication.” Whilst this model will not apply to all PR practitioners who use blogs, it does emphasise the importance of a familiarity with and a knowledge of blogs and the blogosphere before being able to use the tool for strategic and purposeful two-way communications.
References
Lordan, E. J. (2001) Cyberspin: The Use of New Technologies in Public Relations, in Heath, R. (2001) ed. Handbook of Public Relations, Sage, London
Porter, L. V. et al (2007) Blog power: Examining the effects of practitioner blog use on power in public relations, Public Relations Review 22 (2007) 92-95
I have become a lazy blogger… well technically I have just been a bit busy lately so until I get another chance to write a proper entry, enjoy this video…
There’s always time for Facebook!
Rhett and Link say even more about Facebook here (including the song again…)
Rhett and Link on Facebook Groups…
“It’s amazing the groups people are willing to join because of Facebook like…’I'll always love my daddy’. You don’t go up to somebody at the mall and ask them to join your ‘I’ll always love my daddy’ group but you ask them on Facebook and they’re like, ‘Yeah, you know I have always loved my daddy… i’ll be in that group.”
Their advice on photos is also very worthy. Remember, if you post something on Facebook, it’s available to the world… including Rhett and Link.
So for our first practise assignment for the CIPR Diploma, we were asked “What contribution does public relations make to modern society?”. I kind of turned this question on it’s head, and instead I discussed “What contribution does modern society make to PR?” Admittedly not the assignment we were given, but something more interesting and relevant to my area of work…
“PR is a relatively new discipline and its role in society is a constantly evolving one. So to are the theories that guide its practice. The profession is continually facing new challenges from developing modes of communication in the Web 2.0 era to an increasingly complex and diverse society who need to be communicated with.
Previous dominant theories that have guided PR practice are becoming less relevant as new approaches are needed to respond to this changing media landscape.
In systems theory, the idea of PR practitioner as ‘boundary spanner’ between organisation and audience is harder to understand as boundaries become more flexible. Cutlip, Center and Broom (2000) emphasise the presence of an ‘established boundary’ between organisation and audience but with increasingly abundant channels of communication across the boundary, the PR practitioner can no longer be was viewed as ‘gatekeeper’ and must become facilitators enabling flow of information.
The 21st century has seen a massive rise in the number of people publishing content online. Access to new technologies and the availability of web publishing has introduced two fundamental changes for communicators and audiences: who provides information and how audiences get the information they need (Holtz, 1996).
New communications channels such as blogs, social networking sites, RSS feeds, video-sharing sites, wiki’s allow publics to become more discursive and find their own voices and communities who share their voices. The dialogue’s that user-generated content allows is in keeping with more recent rhetorical perspectives.
Heath (2001) supports the rhetorical approach as the primary perspective through which PR should be viewed: “Through statement and counterstatement, people test each other’s views of reality, value, and choices relevant to products, services and public policies”.
Skerlep (2001) also advocates the rhetorical approach as it allows multiple viewpoints to be given on situations, allowing the PR practitioner and audiences to arrive at the truth; “The ‘truth’ can only be reached through argumentative dialogue that reveals which of the participating parties has better arguments” (Skerlep, 2001). By rigorously questioning and challenging statements, we can arrive at the ethical truth. For this approach to be truly ethical, the PR practitioner must be responsive to these multiple viewpoints and not ignorant to them.
As new challenges are emerging for PR practitioners, Mackey (2003) suggests that more traditional PR theories are left wanting. In the globalised world, we are witnessing a more “plural society that is becoming even more postmodern and difficult to stereotype”. New theories of communication are needed that help map the apparently teeming and far harder to see and understand lateral communication between targeted publics and others (Mackey, 2003)
PR practitioners are required to continually address the challenges that are encountered as society evolves, re-evaluating the boundaries of the profession. Whilst this is necessary for its practice it can also confuse the publics understanding of the profession. PR practitioners must continue to look at new challenges to communications whilst re-enforcing the role of the PR professional in society as a facilitator of information exchange.”
References
Cutlip, S. M., Center, A. H., and Broom, G. M. (2000) Effective Public Relations (8th ed) Englewood Cliffs, NJ; Prentice Hall.
Heath, R. L. (2001) Handbook of Public Relations, London: Sage
Holtz, S. (1996) Communication and technology: The complete guide to using technology for organizational communication. Chicago: Lawrence Regan Communications.
Mackey, S. (2003) Changing vistas in Public Relations theory. PRism 1(1)
Skerlep, A (2001) Re-evalutaing the role of the rhetoric in public relations theory and in strategies of corporate discourse. Journal of Communications Management 6(2) 176-187
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