Midterm Exam Question 1

In Deirdre Breakenridge's article PR 2.0, Brian Cross discusses how changes in technology will change the function of PR practitioners. In what ways do you think public relations will change and what role will PR professional's play in these changes?

With the new PR movement, brands are able to have conversations directly with their customers in communities on the web. Individuals are invited to participate in dialogue in places where they have never been invited before. Technology is what is leading the new PR movement. Amateur journalists have a platform on the web and the nature of the media and reporting is changing. PR people can get instant information from the web as well as there is no need to use newspapers or magazines to get credible information to their audiences. When companies decide to go directly to the consumer, they often have trouble figuring out which positions are right for them on the large and confusing web. PR individuals are then needed to come in and decide which audiences to target in what web community while showing these companies or individuals how to make themselves more attractive to consumers. This will allow feedback and two-way communication between organization and consumer. Steve Rubel states that Public relations practitioners need to build important relationships with bloggers to help support mainstream media. Bloggers will expect PR practitioners to be competent with blogging as bloggers should be competent of the product and function of the PR practitioner. They need to develop win-win situations to benefit each other. In today’s world one-way static press releases are dying off slowly. As a PR practitioner it is beneficial to bring in bloggers early in a launch of a product or message to help give feedback before sending out these news releases.