From Chapter 13
The internet, aka the World Wide Web, is unique in that it's taken the shortest amount of time to be adopted by people the world over. It's also probably the most 'free' of the world's mass mediums in that it allows anyone to distribute and receive information of varying types and amounts, no matter the location, without the need for a middleman. Among the myriads of users of the Web are public relations specialists, since the internet can function as both an information hub and a research tool. In and of itself, the Web maintains such a reputation because it is easily updated almost every day, serves as a quick funnel for information at instantaneous speeds, has a near-infinite amount of available space, and allows people to interact with one another no matter the distance. These days, such interaction can be done via webcasting, where audio and video are streamed in real time over a website; it is greatly used by many organizations for news conferences, employee training, and a variety of other functions.
A new territory currently being explored in this vast, relatively new medium is social media, a spawn of what's been dubbed "Web 2.0". It's in this field that most internet content is consumer-generated, and with it comes an opportunity for PR professionals to both gain feedback from, and build relationships with, their customer base. There are many different types of social media at their disposal:
- Blogs, going back as far as 1998, are now accepted among the mainstream due to its usefulness for small businesses and larger companies. They aren't costly, the content is mostly informal in nature, it can serve as a link to other pages, and readers can comment on whichever posts are interesting to them. PR-wise, there are three blog categories in the corporate blogosphere: corporate, employee, and third party.
- Social networking websites such as Facebook and MySpace (is it even relevant anymore?), designed to connect friends and family alike, can also serve PR people in that they can gain customer insights, build brand awareness on an unprecedented scale, and generate consumer loyalty instantly. The only catch is that the PR material needs to be subtle, yet creative, in order to make a splash with the audience.
- YouTube, a social networking site specializing in video clips (and even whole videos), are great for organizations to spread their message along with actually giving their customer base something to look at. Whatever video content they create, however, must be engaging and creative enough to strike a chord with whoever is watching it.
- Flickr, a site specializing in sharing photographs, is a challenge for organizations due to their rule against trying to use the site as a platform for selling products or services. PR people have found ways to get around this, with one such method being getting a photographer to share a photo they've taken on the organization's Flickr page.
- Text messaging allows organizations and PR staff to get in touch with employees, customers, and certain audiences in a fast manner, either by broadcast text, subscription text, or the one-off text. The most well-known form of text messaging is via Twitter, where messages must be under 140 characters.
- Wikis, named for the internet encyclopedia Wikipedia, are collections of web pages that can be updated or modified by anyone.
- Podcasts, either audio or video, are played over the internet via RSS feeds, with a name originating from Apple's iPod and broadcast. They're cost-effective, able to be accessed 24/7, and portable, hence their popularity among smartphone and MP3 device users. For PR specialists and their client organizations, whatever podcasts they conceive need to be informative in a conversational manner.
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