Off The Record

By Paul Dixon*

In my latest flirt with the on-line virtual world “there.com” I commented to a fellow avatar how great she looked in her bright pink boots - only for her to flee into the jungle.  Did I offend her?  Should I have pursued her?  I think I was more confused in suddenly facing a decision that was for me, well, weird.  But for 400,000 there.com members these kinds of experiences aren’t weird at all – in fact they’re perfectly normal.

Online social interaction is transforming the way people communicate, the emergence of blogs, vlogs, podcasts, RSS, and social interaction websites such as Facebook, Myspace, and Second Life have created an arena for people to communicate in a way the world has never seen before.  If PR is really about communicating with your publics, then PR practitioners – especially those who are just starting out like me – need to embrace the emergence of new media as a powerful tool for PR practice in the future.
 

The last thirty years has witnessed the proliferation of mass media.  Long before the advent of the now already out-dated internet-dial-up, audiences were able to choose media outlets dedicated to their special interest, rather than having to watch prime-time programs.  Greater choice is part of modern day life, look at food for example. Once upon a time you had the choice of maybe a strawberry, vanilla or chocolate ice cream - now you can enjoy green tea flavor, with nuts.  In today’s consumer-driven world, consumers – audiences if you like – are making choices based on their own preferences more than they have ever done in the past.  This new found ‘empowerment’ has caused the audience to fragment, requiring a fresh PR approach.

This newly fragmented audience is also doing something that has serious consequences for PR strategies:  they are placing their invaluable trust in fresh and new ‘credible’ sources.  Yes, that’s right, the public no longer only trust doctors, public organizations – and even governments – more than ever, people trust their peers and the people around them.  You may argue that word-of-mouth began when humans learnt to talk, but what is so clearly different today is that the public is empowered to find their peers – and talk to them directly - through the platforms the Internet provides.  One Chinese woman created a blog dedicated to the discussion of family matters – such as creating online photo albums from old photos tucked away in the attic.  The 60,000 netizens who regularly visit her blog learnt about the best scanner to use, the most efficient on-line photo sharing website – they placed their invaluable trust in the Chinese lady’s opinions.

If I was a CEO with the responsibility to up-hold the reputation of a brand that was built up over the course of decades, I would be pretty concerned by this paradigmatic shift in communications.  In these new environments brands risk losing control of their message – as PR practitioners, it is our role to guarantee to our clients that this never happens. I am not saying we should all abandon the bread and butter aspects of being a young PR professional – communicating with mainstream media will always be one of the cornerstones of PR.  For us all to build and preserve our own brand, as perceived by our clients, we do however need to look beyond these traditional push communication models and become familiar with the less formal platforms.  As professional communicators, embracing the increasingly influential two-way group communications found online can only help us along in our career ahead.

_________________________________________________________________                                                      * Paul Dixon is an Assistant Account Executive in the Beijing office of AC Capital Strategic Public Relations.