Essay: The Impact of Social Media on Public Relations Strategies

This essay delves into the profound impact of social media on the field of public relations. It begins by highlighting the rise of social media platforms, such as Twitter and Facebook, as crucial tools for PR professionals. The discussion encompasses the shift from traditional media to online forums, blogs, and other digital channels, emphasizing how social media has become a key driver in marketing strategies. The essay analyzes the changing communication landscape, where public relations professionals can now directly engage with the public, gather feedback, and manage brand reputation in real-time. It acknowledges the dual-edged nature of social media, which presents both opportunities and challenges, including the need for proactive crisis management and the importance of transparency. The essay concludes that while social media has made the job of PR professionals more complex, it also provides unprecedented opportunities for direct engagement and influence, ultimately transforming how organizations connect with their audiences.

Running head: PUBLIC RELATIONS
Public Relations
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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Introduction
Increased usage of social media has impacted a wide range of customers all over the
world and eventually caused the adaption of social media as a major tool for several public
relation professionals all over the world. Social media has also become a major force within the
modern culture that acts as a key driver and has been successfully embedded deep within the
marketing strategy of almost every business now1. As social media has turned into a new way of
communication which is developing in a fast pace, therefore it is important to analyze the
impacts on social media on the public relations and how it had shaped the new age public
relations communication. This essay has triggered this issue and will discuss the possible impacts
of social media on the new age public relations.
Discussion
Most people think of twitter and facebook while they think of social media, however it is
important to note that social media is not only consisted of these two social networking sites, but
the online forums, blogs, podcasts, message boards, video sharing, search engine marketing,
wikis are also included. As indicated by several researchers social networking sites now have
turned into a significant platform for generating and sharing any kind of content as more than
half of the internet users have joined at least a single social media platform2. Also, there are more
1 Houston, J. Brian, Joshua Hawthorne, Mildred F. Perreault, Eun Hae Park, Marlo Goldstein Hode, Michael R.
Halliwell, Sarah E. Turner McGowen et al. "Social media and disasters: a functional framework for social media use
in disaster planning, response, and research." Disasters 39, no. 1 (2015): 1-22.
2 Westerman, David, Patric R. Spence, and Brandon Van Der Heide. "Social media as information source: Recency
of updates and credibility of information." Journal of Computer
‐Mediated Communication 19, no. 2 (2014): 171-
183.

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people who are being active with more than one social media platform which has undermined the
rise of social media and what exactly is encapsulated by the very term. According to a recent
research, within the communication world, a recent trend has been seen of moving dramatically
following the digital direction, therefore people, who are being able to comprehend the
transformation, have started communicating in a more effective way. For instance, blogs have
been very much popular as it gives a sense of independence to the writers and no editor or media
censoring is done here3. Therefore a large number of people are now utilizing blogs for
positioning themselves to a higher place in others’ eye as there are several people who are using
these blogs for gathering more information. Previously, the public relations professionals were
the sole medium for generating the contents and sharing it to the media for being published.
However, in recent times, the professionals still generate the contents by themselves, but they
can publish such contents by themselves through social networking sites, blogs and any other
online outlets. It is also easier for the public relations professionals to reach the general
population, talk to them and get their feedback, therefore act accordingly.
For example, if a random customer has posted or tweeted something bad regarding a
company’s product, the public relations professionals of the company can view such reviews,
respond to them immediately and ensure that the customer does not keep the same opinion about
the company by providing a suitable service to them. Unlike the other conventional media
outlets, social media tend to provide the writers and the bloggers a two-way experience where
they can interact and converse with the audience. This open exchange of thoughts and opinions
Westerman, David, Patric R. Spence, and Brandon Van Der Heide. "Social media as information source: Recency of
updates and credibility of information." Journal of Computer
‐Mediated Communication 19, no. 2 (2014): 171-183.
3 Franklin, B. and Parton, N. eds., 2014. Social Work, the Media and Public Relations (Routledge Revivals). CRC
Press

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has helped public relations professionals to determine the emotions and sentiment of the
audience as well4. However, at the same time, the general population gets an open platform for
airing their grievances, opinions and other rants. Therefore, this has also created an extra
pressure for the PR professionals as handling such crucial situations is not easy, especially
keeping the conversation open for public has been vital in maintaining the credibility of any
brand.
Other than that, social media has also contributed in being a reactive and proactive
platform for communication; it has invested more time for keeping the users informed regarding
any news. The organizations now tend to invest more resources and time for spreading the
messages in right way through social media, apart from spending huge money for press release
or distribution5. However, it should be noted that by nature social media acts as a dual edged
sword, therefore several public relations professionals get blindsided with a born crisis.
Therefore, the major key is not to listen as such as it is spoken social media. Along with that the
professionals should also be ready with any good social media monitoring software and have a
concrete plan reacting to any crisis on social media, as it has the capability of spreading like a
wild fire6. The companies now also announce the news on social media channels along with the
4 Wright, Donald K., and Michelle Drifka Hinson. "An updated examination of social and emerging media use in
public relations practice: A longitudinal analysis between 2006 and 2014." Public Relations Journal 7, no. 3 (2013):
1-39.
5 Couldry, Nick, Sonia Livingstone, and Tim Markham. Media consumption and public engagement: Beyond the
presumption of attention. Springer, 2016.
6 Roberts, Holly, Shari R. Veil, Stephanie Madden, Melissa Janoske, and Rowena L. Briones. "One of the most
important roles for public relations professionals is building relationships. The fundamental assumption behind the

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conventional media channels as nowadays many turn to the social medial sites than a
conventional media site for getting news.
In a conventional public relation effort, every press release word gets vigilantly
scrutinized and the main spokesperson undergoes an extensive training for adhering to the exact
message. However, even if the public relations professionals make their best efforts, the message
gets a little regimented and formulaic, due to the different approaches taken by the journalists7.
On the other hand, the primary feature of social media is its informal characteristics and the
genuine conversation between the company and customers. Therefore it offers more creativity to
the public relation professionals; therefore the professionals can alter the messages for matching
the flow from audience.
Social media also acts as a transparent medium for the both the customers and company.
The public relation professionals can have an upper hand especially when it comes to applying
the right stories at the right places. On social media, the journalists are not the sole resources of
news; therefore any news can be blatantly exposed8. This indicates that it is more difficult for the
normative relationship-building role of public relations is that relationships among organizations and publics are
mutually beneficial. However, some network theories (eg, structural holes theory) prescribe that maintaining many
organizational relationships is inefficient,..." Public Relations Review 42, no. 1 (2016): 214-218.
7 Stacks, Don W. Primer of public relations research. Guilford Publications, 2016.
8 Rodriguez, Nathian Shae. "Communicating global inequalities: How LGBTI asylum-specific NGOs use social
media as public relations." Public Relations Review 42, no. 2 (2016): 322-332.

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public relation professionals to control any news, as the customers can enjoy the benefit of
having transparency.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it can be said that there are several professionals who may lament over the
constant explosion of social media as it is making their jobs more difficult and stressful than
making it easier, the actual fact is that now it is much easier for reaching the customers on a
regular basis and directly. The general population is now trusting more on the social media
outlets than the traditional media, therefore it would be much easier for the PR professionals to
bypass the censoring and reach the audience.

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Reference list
Couldry, Nick, Sonia Livingstone, and Tim Markham. Media consumption and public
engagement: Beyond the presumption of attention. Springer, 2016.
Franklin, B. and Parton, N. eds., 2014. Social Work, the Media and Public Relations (Routledge
Revivals). CRC Press.
Houston, J. Brian, Joshua Hawthorne, Mildred F. Perreault, Eun Hae Park, Marlo Goldstein
Hode, Michael R. Halliwell, Sarah E. Turner McGowen et al. "Social media and disasters: a
functional framework for social media use in disaster planning, response, and
research." Disasters 39, no. 1 (2015): 1-22.
Roberts, Holly, Shari R. Veil, Stephanie Madden, Melissa Janoske, and Rowena L. Briones.
"One of the most important roles for public relations professionals is building relationships. The
fundamental assumption behind the normative relationship-building role of public relations is
that relationships among organizations and publics are mutually beneficial. However, some
network theories (eg, structural holes theory) prescribe that maintaining many organizational
relationships is inefficient,..." Public Relations Review 42, no. 1 (2016): 214-218.
Rodriguez, Nathian Shae. "Communicating global inequalities: How LGBTI asylum-specific
NGOs use social media as public relations." Public Relations Review 42, no. 2 (2016): 322-332.
Stacks, Don W. Primer of public relations research. Guilford Publications, 2016.
Westerman, David, Patric R. Spence, and Brandon Van Der Heide. "Social media as information
source: Recency of updates and credibility of information." Journal of Computer
‐Mediated
Communication 19, no. 2 (2014): 171-183.

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Wright, Donald K., and Michelle Drifka Hinson. "An updated examination of social and
emerging media use in public relations practice: A longitudinal analysis between 2006 and
2014." Public Relations Journal 7, no. 3 (2013): 1-39.