As social media transforms the mass communication landscape, how relevant are the theories and practices that PR professionals have traditionally applied?

Social media has drastically changed the media landscape in which public relations and communication professionals operate within to influence knowledge and attitudes. In doing so it’s not only sped up the instantaneous manner in which information is shared and opinions formed, but it has namely enabled a direct two-way conversation with stakeholders that was previously unimaginable. Whether it be with customers, employees, donors or community leaders, these new media vehicles have called on organisations to be more accountable and responsive to their stakeholders whoever they are. 

Social and emerging media is being used by organisations for strategic communication purposes on an ever-increasing basis. Wright and Hison’s (2015, 8) decade-long study into use of social and emerging media found that by 2015, 99% of communications professionals were using social media in their strategies and for professional purposes. Given the saturation of social media has only increased since this study, it can be expected that the depth of this engagement has only increased. This includes its use for advancing advocacy and PR agendas, and building social movements and shaping public opinion. 

Many scholars and practitioners consider that these new vehicles of communication have turned everything people understand about communications upside down. As Argenti and Barnes (2009) have pointed out, new media “changed the rules of the game in every part”. Over ten years, the study into social and emerging media also found that practitioners strongly agree that new and emerging media is directly changing the way that public relations is practiced (Wright 2015, 8). Arthur W. Page Society (2012) further emphasises the changes to the role and responsibilities for the chief communications professional given the impact of social media and wider technologies. 

According to the Television Bureau of Advertising (2009), social media is the online platforms that people use to generate content and share opinions and experiences with one-another. This is most known for the significant rise of social network sites (such as Facebook and Instagram) and micro-blogs (such as Twitter). It also includes the emergence of blogs, podcasts, instant message chats, wikis and virtual worlds (Matthews 2015, 17). The increasing reach and proliferation of these mediums has directly influenced the way that people access information, build relationships and most importantly, shape and form their attitudes and opinions. 

In 2015, Wright found that social media not only influenced mainstream media, it has done so at a disproportionate level to the impact of traditional media on social and emerging platforms. Other scholars (Coombs 2012; Gainey 2012) have further detailed the phenomenal impact that social and emerging media have had on how environmental crises and fast evolving political developments have been reported, and shifts in the platforms and actors that people use to source and consume news and media from. In essence, the emergence of social media and its pervasive impact, has transformed how news breaks, is consumed and shared. 

This drastic change in the media landscape that communication professionals seek to influence has far reaching implications; however there are two key elements that these new vehicles bring to PR. Firstly, it has drastically increased the speed and reach in which ideas are shared and forged. Secondly and most importantly, it necessitates a deeper two-way communication with stakeholders. Social and emerging media enable stakeholders to communicate directly and instantly with organisations, marking a direct shift from the traditional one-way output of corporate communications in the past. Matthews (2010, 17) describes this as expanding the two-way dialogue between organisations and their stakeholders. 

Arthur W. Page Society (2007) explores this as a fundamental shift that empowers stakeholders by giving them greater access and influence over a company’s reputation. Not only does new and emerging media enable this dialogue, this is public, and one that can have notable reputational impact if shared by someone influential on the platform. As Argenti and Barnes (2009) specify, this dynamic “dramatically shifts” how organisations and social actors need to go about managing stakeholder relationships. Within this, customers, supporters, advocates, donors and community leaders all have significantly more influence over how the organisation is perceived and the legitimacy and trust it can hold. 

Rather than becoming obsolete, the role of strategic communications only becomes more critical within this landscape. Strategic communications, in its broadest sense, is the purposeful use of communication by an organisation to fulfill its mission, whether that be to increase sales, change policy or shape public behaviour (Hallahan et al 2007). While strategic communication no longer has the power to influence public opinion the way it once could, Habermas (1979, 162/1989) argues that the need for an organisation to be highly deliberate and considered in its messages only increases as the proliferation of media and opinion diversifies (Habermas 1979, 162/1989). With this logic in mind, it might be a more challenging communication landscape for organisations to navigate, but far from a pointless one. 

With rose coloured glasses on, the potential opportunity here is to leverage this dynamic to develop a communications field that authentically engages with stakeholders. This provides an avenue to challenge preconceptions of PR as a tool for spin, and more simplistic practices of communications as a one-way publicity tool used for promotion or propaganda purposes, and transition the field to practicing two-way symmetrical or asymmetrical models as revered by Grunig ((2001). In this respect, social media pressures strategic communications to build mutual understanding and create shared meaning with others. 

While this media landscape challenges an Executive’s ability to control and manage a public message like it once did, it does allow for organisation’s to benefit from direct stakeholder input and engagement. When used well and authentically, organisations can learn and involve their customers, employees and donors in more genuine and meaningful ways. They can use strategic communications to better understand what their stakeholders want, engage them in debate and discussion, and potentially use this to strengthen and personalise those relationships in ways not otherwise possible. 

This mightn’t be the top down transference of information, knowledge and emotion that companies dream of, but when used well, social media supports organisations to be more accountable and relevant to their constituents, and indeed meet their mission in more full and valuable ways. 

SOURCES

Argenti, P.A. & Barnes, C.M. (2009), Digital Strategies for Powerful Communications. New York: McGraw Hill.

Arthur W. Page Society (2007). The Authentic Enterprise: An Arthur W. Page Society Report. New York: Arthur W. Page Society. Accessed at: http://www.awpagesociety.com/images/uploads/2007AuthenticEnterprise.pdf

Grunig, J.E. (2001). Two-way symmetrical public relations: past, present, and future, in Heath, R.L. (Ed.), Handbook of Public Relations, Sage: Thousand Oaks, CA, pp. 11-32. 

Habermas, J. (2006, June). Political communication in media society: Does democracy still enjoy an epistemic dimension? The impact of normative theory on empirical research. Keynote address deliv- ered at the annual convention of the International Communication Association, Dresden, Germany.

Hallahan, K and others (2007) Defining strategic communication, International Journal of Strategic Communication 1 (1): 3-35. Free online.

Matthews, L. (2010), Social media and the evolution of corporate communication (2010), The Elon Journal of Undergraduate Research in Communications, 1 (1), 17-23.

Owyang, J. (2007, May 16). Edgeworks Concept: How Social Media impacts Company Communications. Retrieved October 13, 2009, from Web Strategy: http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2007/05/16/ edgeworks-concept-how-social-media-impacts-company-communications-expanding-upon-brianoberkirchs-theory/ 

Television Bureau of Advertising, Inc. (2009). Multiplatform Glossary. Retrieved November 11, 2009, from Television Bureau of Advertising: http://www.tvb.org/multiplatform/Multiplatform_Glossary.aspx

Wright, D. K., & Hinson, M. (2015). Examining social and emerging media use in public relations practice: A ten-year longitudinal analysis. Public Relations Journal, 9(2), 1-26.