A case Study (5 Marks) Read the following Case Study and answer all the questions listed below Public Relations Journal
Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2021 9:17 am
A case Study (5 Marks)
Read the following Case Study and answer all the questions listed below
Public Relations Journal Vol. 2, No. 2, Spring 2008
2008 Public Relations Society of America
How Blogs and Social Media are Changing Public Relations and the Way it is Practiced
Donald K. Wright & Michelle D. Hinson1
This article reports on a three-year-long international survey of public relations practitioners examining the impact blogs and other social media are having on public relations practice. Findings show these new media are dramatically changing public relations. Results indicate blogs and social media have enhanced what happens in public relations and that social media and traditional mainstream media complement each other. The study also finds the emergence of blogs and social media have changed the way their organizations communicate, especially to external audiences. Findings suggest social media complement traditional news media, and that blogs and social media influence coverage in traditional news media. The study reports blogs and social media have made communications more instantaneous by encouraging organizations to respond more quickly to criticism.
Introduction
David Meerman Scott (2008), an online thought leadership and viral marketing strategist, says, “one of the coolest things about the Web is that when an idea takes off it can propel a brand or a company to seemingly instant fame and fortune” (p. 8).
Scott also points out that although communicating via the Web usually is free – as opposed to purchasing space through traditional advertising – only a small number of public relations practitioners are effectively using blogs and other social media when communicating with their strategic publics. Scott claims the challenge to public relations and marketing people “is to harness the amazing power of . . . whatever you call it – viral, buzz, word-of-mouse, or word-of-blog – having other people tell your story drives action. One person sends it to another, then that person sends it to yet another, and on and on” (p. 8).
Blogging and Public Relations
Many aspects of technology recently have challenged how public relations is practiced. As Robert J. Key (2005) explains, “Public relations in the digital age requires understanding how your key constituents are gathering and sharing information and then influencing them at key points. Doing so requires strategies that embrace the digital age” (p. 19).
The term “blogs” is an abbreviation of “weblogs” that Edelman and Intellissek (2005) say are “easily published, personal web sites that serve as sources of commentary, opinion and uncensored, unfiltered sources of information on a variety of topics.” (p. 4). According to Robert J. Key (2005), many weblogs began sporadically as vanity publishing because “anyone with an opinion about anything could create, in a matter of minutes, his or her own web site for publishing news, opinion, commentary and links to other sites” (p. 18).
Method
As has been the case with previous reports of this annual study, a sample of public relations practitioners from various parts of the world took part in the third annual version of this research. Invitations to participate in the study were extended via e-mail messages to random samples collected from organizations such as the Arthur W. Page Society and the International Public Relations Association (IPRA); and from donor, task-force and commission membership lists of the Institute for Public Relations. The study’s measuring instrument contained 47 closed-ended and two open-ended questions.
Respondents came from many different parts of the world and represented a good cross-section of a wide variety of segments of the public relations industry. More (25%) worked with corporations than any other area but small agencies or consultancies (20%) and educational institutions (19%) also were well represented. Large agencies accounted for 11 percent of the respondents while eight percent worked in governmental public relations positions, six percent came from the not-for- profit area, four percent were research providers, two percent worked in health care and five percent responded “other” when asked what kind of organization they worked for.
There was a fairly even split between male (56%) and female (44%) respondents. Most (57%) were based in North America with 20 percent from Europe, ten percent from Asia and Australia, nine percent from Africa, one percent from South America and three percent from “other.” Of those based in North America, 95 percent were from the United States. Responses were nicely distributed across various age categories with 13 percent being younger than 30, 25 percent were between 30 and 39, 23 percent were aged 40 to 49, 25 percent were 50 to 59 and 14 percent were 60 or older.
Usable responses were received from 328 subjects. Data were analyzed using the SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Science) program.
Results
Findings clearly indicate public relations practitioners who responded to this survey believe the emergence of blogs and social media have changed the way their organizations (or their client organizations) communicate.
Results also show there is considerable agreement suggesting blogs and social media have enhanced public relations practice. Results show two-thirds of the study’s respondents (66%) believe social media have enhanced public relations and 60 percent feel the same way about blogs. Most (89%) of those surveyed think blogs and social media influence news coverage in the traditional media (newspapers, magazines, radio and television) while 72 percent say the reverse also is true. There is very solid agreement (84%) that blogs and social media have made communications more instantaneous because they force organizations to respond more quickly to criticism.
answer the following questions:
1. 1. What is the type of “Process of Research” classification approached in this study? (1 Mark)
2. 2. Which type of Descriptive Research Study approached by the researchers in this paper? (1 Mark)
3. 3. What type of outcome of research classification has been employed in this study? (1 Mark)
4. 4. Reference the above given study Applying APA Referencing Style based on the information given. (2 Marks)
Read the following Case Study and answer all the questions listed below
Public Relations Journal Vol. 2, No. 2, Spring 2008
2008 Public Relations Society of AmericaHow Blogs and Social Media are Changing Public Relations and the Way it is Practiced
Donald K. Wright & Michelle D. Hinson1
This article reports on a three-year-long international survey of public relations practitioners examining the impact blogs and other social media are having on public relations practice. Findings show these new media are dramatically changing public relations. Results indicate blogs and social media have enhanced what happens in public relations and that social media and traditional mainstream media complement each other. The study also finds the emergence of blogs and social media have changed the way their organizations communicate, especially to external audiences. Findings suggest social media complement traditional news media, and that blogs and social media influence coverage in traditional news media. The study reports blogs and social media have made communications more instantaneous by encouraging organizations to respond more quickly to criticism.
Introduction
David Meerman Scott (2008), an online thought leadership and viral marketing strategist, says, “one of the coolest things about the Web is that when an idea takes off it can propel a brand or a company to seemingly instant fame and fortune” (p. 8).
Scott also points out that although communicating via the Web usually is free – as opposed to purchasing space through traditional advertising – only a small number of public relations practitioners are effectively using blogs and other social media when communicating with their strategic publics. Scott claims the challenge to public relations and marketing people “is to harness the amazing power of . . . whatever you call it – viral, buzz, word-of-mouse, or word-of-blog – having other people tell your story drives action. One person sends it to another, then that person sends it to yet another, and on and on” (p. 8).
Blogging and Public Relations
Many aspects of technology recently have challenged how public relations is practiced. As Robert J. Key (2005) explains, “Public relations in the digital age requires understanding how your key constituents are gathering and sharing information and then influencing them at key points. Doing so requires strategies that embrace the digital age” (p. 19).
The term “blogs” is an abbreviation of “weblogs” that Edelman and Intellissek (2005) say are “easily published, personal web sites that serve as sources of commentary, opinion and uncensored, unfiltered sources of information on a variety of topics.” (p. 4). According to Robert J. Key (2005), many weblogs began sporadically as vanity publishing because “anyone with an opinion about anything could create, in a matter of minutes, his or her own web site for publishing news, opinion, commentary and links to other sites” (p. 18).
Method
As has been the case with previous reports of this annual study, a sample of public relations practitioners from various parts of the world took part in the third annual version of this research. Invitations to participate in the study were extended via e-mail messages to random samples collected from organizations such as the Arthur W. Page Society and the International Public Relations Association (IPRA); and from donor, task-force and commission membership lists of the Institute for Public Relations. The study’s measuring instrument contained 47 closed-ended and two open-ended questions.
Respondents came from many different parts of the world and represented a good cross-section of a wide variety of segments of the public relations industry. More (25%) worked with corporations than any other area but small agencies or consultancies (20%) and educational institutions (19%) also were well represented. Large agencies accounted for 11 percent of the respondents while eight percent worked in governmental public relations positions, six percent came from the not-for- profit area, four percent were research providers, two percent worked in health care and five percent responded “other” when asked what kind of organization they worked for.
There was a fairly even split between male (56%) and female (44%) respondents. Most (57%) were based in North America with 20 percent from Europe, ten percent from Asia and Australia, nine percent from Africa, one percent from South America and three percent from “other.” Of those based in North America, 95 percent were from the United States. Responses were nicely distributed across various age categories with 13 percent being younger than 30, 25 percent were between 30 and 39, 23 percent were aged 40 to 49, 25 percent were 50 to 59 and 14 percent were 60 or older.
Usable responses were received from 328 subjects. Data were analyzed using the SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Science) program.
Results
Findings clearly indicate public relations practitioners who responded to this survey believe the emergence of blogs and social media have changed the way their organizations (or their client organizations) communicate.
Results also show there is considerable agreement suggesting blogs and social media have enhanced public relations practice. Results show two-thirds of the study’s respondents (66%) believe social media have enhanced public relations and 60 percent feel the same way about blogs. Most (89%) of those surveyed think blogs and social media influence news coverage in the traditional media (newspapers, magazines, radio and television) while 72 percent say the reverse also is true. There is very solid agreement (84%) that blogs and social media have made communications more instantaneous because they force organizations to respond more quickly to criticism.
answer the following questions:
1. 1. What is the type of “Process of Research” classification approached in this study? (1 Mark)
2. 2. Which type of Descriptive Research Study approached by the researchers in this paper? (1 Mark)
3. 3. What type of outcome of research classification has been employed in this study? (1 Mark)
4. 4. Reference the above given study Applying APA Referencing Style based on the information given. (2 Marks)