Posted: September 23rd, 2015

it is hard to avoid making the claim that ‘the internet changes everything.’ … for public relations the unavoidable conclusion is that nothing will ever be the same again.

Has social media really changed public relations?

Consider the following quotes:
The Web has changed everything (for PR practitioners).
Solis (2009).
… it is hard to avoid making the claim that ‘the internet changes everything.’ … for public relations the unavoidable conclusion is that nothing will ever be the same again.

Phillips (2009)
Although the attention being paid to the new digital media may be the latest fad in public relations, these new media have the potential to make the profession more global, strategic, two – way and interactive, symmetrical or dialogical, and socially responsible.
However, many practitioners are using the new media in the same ways they used the old — as a means of dumping messages on the general population rather than as a strategic means of interacting with publics and bringing information from the environment into organisational decision – making.
Grunig (2009)

As the trimester draws to a close, I’d like you to consider what we’ve studied in this unit, and consider if social media has changed public relations, or if it is more of the same.
After reading the articles I recommend in the resources section, your task is to reach 100 points again.
70 Points
Use the title of this week’s topic as the basis for a two-minute video or audio post.
60 Points
Organise to meet a PR practitioner face-to-face to discuss over coffee if social media has really changed public relations.
Read a physical copy of a metropolitan or national newspaper. Find three stories that have public relations (not marketing) angles, and then search for that issue online. Report your findings.
50 points
Interview a fellow ALR206 class-mate (for at least 10 minutes) about what they’ve learnt about social media and public relations during the trimester. Upload the audio recording.
40 Points
Do an online search for a job you’d like on graduation. Find three jobs you’d like at some point in your career, and list the skills and knowledge related to social media that the roles requires.
30 Points
Join Periscope or Meerkat and use the service to discuss PR and social media for at least 5 minutes.
20 Points (for each of the tasks below)
Review the social media accounts for two of the following organisations and report on how they engage their target publics
http://www.mitchellshire.vic.gov.au/
http://delwp.vic.gov.au/
http://www.blogsouthwest.com/
http://www.barwonhealth.org.au/
http://www.holden.com.au/
https://www.whitehouse.gov/engage/social-hub
http://www.aph.gov.au/
https://www.emv.vic.gov.au/
http://www.police.vic.gov.au/

Start your own external blog (on WordPress or similar) and upload at least three posts (they can be from this class – but not other classes – I know many of you do blogs for other classes).
Spend 30 minutes reviewing the information and links on MOOCs at http://universityofreddit.com/class/67829/how-to-make-a-mooc
Read three stories from http://www.cjr.org/
Read three stories from https://www.iabc.com/category/articles/
Watch 5 videos (they’re 4 minutes each) about how to tell a story with video http://www.storyguide.net/how-to
10 Points
Spend 15 minutes exploring https://www.historypin.org/ Consider how it could be used for public relations.
Make two Vine videos and use the alr206 hashtag.
Upload two Instagram photos related to a public relations issue studied in this unit. Use the hashtage alr206.
Tweet about social media and PR on two different days.
References
Grunig, J. E. (2009). Paradigms of global public relations in an age of digitalisation. PRism 6 (2): http://praxis.massey.ac.nz/prism_on-line_journ.html
Phillips, D. & Young, P. (2009). Online public relations: A practical guide to developing an online strategy in the world of social media. London and Philadelphia: Kogan Page.
Solis, B. &Breakenridge, D. (2009). Putting the public back in public relations: How social media is reinventing the aging business of PR. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education