I just finished reading a blog post on davefleet.com about social media and how it should tie in to the world of public relations. This blog was suggested by Ellen Mrja on her Twitter account.
This blog post asks a very simple question: Does social media let everyone act as their own PR agency? The answer is simple. No, social media does not give everyone the skills to be a PR agency.
PR is not something you can just jump into a be great at. While people can be good at one or more aspects of PR, there is no way you can decide to do PR and be instantly good, or even great, at all the facets of the business.
It can be compared to journalism. You may be a good writer, but unless you know how to write in AP Style or a specific paper or magazine's style, you will not be a very good match for any publication and will not get published. This is the same with pretty much any profession.
PR is not an easy industry to make it in, even if you have training in it. As I said before, you need to know at least a little about everything from writing to pitching ideas to creating and designing a website. There is so much that can be done that clients expect to be represented in every way possible.
This means expanding to blogging, Facebook, Twitter and any other form of electronic media. Everyone uses them, so clients want to be represented on them all in order to get their name out there.
That being said, it would be very valuable for all PR agencies to expand to social media sites and to require that knowing how to use and navigate these sites.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Ethics in Public Relations
Today in my Strategic Communications Research class, we discussed ethics in the field of Public Relations.
To be honest, this all seems like a bit of a no brain-er to me. You are supposed to be working to help not only your company and your client, but, above all, the public.
We also discussed conducting ethical research. The main focus became the point of making sure you protect the participants of studies at any and all cost. It is the duty of those who are conducting that research to make sure participants remain safe during the study and anonymous after the study.
I know that if I were a participant in a study, I would want to remain "in the shadows" so to speak. It becomes especially important when you are dealing with a study regarding a place someone works, or frequents because of the ramifications it could have on that individual if anyone were to find out the results of the study.
Oddly enough, with everything that is listed in the PRSA Code of Ethics as well as the IABC Code of Ethics, research is not one of the topics covered.
Perhaps the code of ethics for both organizations should be redone to include research provisions. It seems like common sense, but then again, doesn't everything in the codes of ethics?
To be honest, this all seems like a bit of a no brain-er to me. You are supposed to be working to help not only your company and your client, but, above all, the public.
We also discussed conducting ethical research. The main focus became the point of making sure you protect the participants of studies at any and all cost. It is the duty of those who are conducting that research to make sure participants remain safe during the study and anonymous after the study.
I know that if I were a participant in a study, I would want to remain "in the shadows" so to speak. It becomes especially important when you are dealing with a study regarding a place someone works, or frequents because of the ramifications it could have on that individual if anyone were to find out the results of the study.
Oddly enough, with everything that is listed in the PRSA Code of Ethics as well as the IABC Code of Ethics, research is not one of the topics covered.
Perhaps the code of ethics for both organizations should be redone to include research provisions. It seems like common sense, but then again, doesn't everything in the codes of ethics?
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