Face-to-face with social media
Before we dive into the Web 2.0 world and sell the virtues of new media to our clients, I suggest we all tread very carefully.
While social media might be “the greatest evolution in the history of public relations,” I’ve seen a lot of time and energy wasted at the expense of proven and traditional PR tools that help build solid relationships and reputations. As PR practitioners I think we need to carefully consider what role new media should play in our PR plans. We also need to consider the impact of social media on security and privacy issues. Security experts warn of the lack of control over the access and flow of information and how surveillance activities are increasingly mining for information that can impact privacy in ways we have yet to understand. This is particularly true for social media tools we might use in our personal life.
I appreciate that PR 2.0 (a marriage of old PR theories with the use of social media) is hear to stay and offers us incredible opportunities. While tools such as Facebook, Twitter, RSS feeds, blogging, and podcasting might help my clients develop meaningful two-way conversations with their audiences, they need to be considered in the context of all communication tools at our disposal and the value they can bring to the bottom line.
I’m well aware of how social media helped propel Barack Obama to the U.S. presidency and read with interest that the Vatican City has recently launched its own YouTube channel. You have to admit, that was a surprise!
But let’s not forget the tried and true ingredients to strong relationships: face-to-face communication, a phone call, a conversation and coffee, a handshake, and trust built over time.
Note: I just started reading PR 2.0 by Deidre Breakenridge and know this book will answer many questions and provide guidance on this fascinating topic.
Danielle Côté, APRPresident, CPRS Ottawa/Gatineau
Ottawa, ON
Tags: obama, pr 2.0, privacy, security, social media, Vatican, web 2.0, YouTube
February 19th, 2009 at 10:45 am
While trying to learn how to use Social Media, I feel as if my time is going down the drain. I hope to discover ways that it will out perform traditional tools.
February 21st, 2009 at 3:26 pm
Enoying the blog so far. Good work. But why are you only publishing a truncated RSS feed? I was reading it on the Ferry through my RSS reader and its frustrating to get the first few lines, then have to click through to the full story. If I’m offline, I can’t get to the rest of it. It’s not a great way to keep your readers interested…I recommend giving me the full story any way I want to read it. My rule of thumb is that a reader/customer/member is a valuable item and you never want to do anything to annoy them. You’ve got me reading the blog - don’t try to make me do something else for no good reason.
February 23rd, 2009 at 12:42 pm
Hi Dave, happy to hear you’re having fun with the blog. I’ll have the team look into options with regard to sending out full articles on the RSS feed. What RSS reader are you using?
February 26th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
Hi Dave, the PR Edge Blog now delivers full articles over the RSS feed. That should make the experience for you (and other offline readers) all the more enjoyable!