Created in 2006, Twitter is the love child of mobile phone phenomenon texting and social networking, also referred to as ‘micro-blogging’. The 140 character limit forces its users to be brief about their post, giving snippets of their personal lives, business related news and updates, ‘Which is why a lot of people like Twitter. It forces all of us to get to the point for a change’ (http://blog.journalistics.com/2009/twitter-helps-pr-professionals-get-to-the-point/ ). The site enables its users to follow other people on Twitter, tweet (the content of the micro-blogs), re-tweet (RT) which means forward someone else’s tweet to their follows, favourite and simply reply. This has become common knowledge as the twitter population grows steadily every day. As well as the social aspect of the site, Twitter has become a vital tool in the business world. Public Relations is one business that has taken the micro-blogging site under its wing and manipulated it’s features to their advantage.
With 140 million users and growing, Twitter gives PR agencies access to a vast audience. This audience is one that the PR people can monitor, keeping their ears open for news and trends (when a large amount of people are tweeting a similar word or phrase) and then applying it that to their work. As well as also being able to participate in the monitoring of conversation and trends on Twitter, the website also allows people to respond to tweets, meaning that the PR people can make sure that they are up to date at all times with developments in the field or with the people they are interested in.
It also works as a ‘job pages’ for some PR agencies as some companies and individuals may post on the networking site that they need PR representation, ‘it has evolved into an ongoing resource connecting job seekers with employment opportunities’ (http://mashable.com/2011/04/14/pr-pro-twitter-guide/ ) although this is speaking of a particular Twitter account made for this purpose, the same can be said about the whole of Twitter acting as a job opportunity hosting site.
The most obvious reason why PR professionals love Twitter is because it is another platform for them to promote their campaigns, or clients on. With so many users Twitter presents the opportunity to really get the attention the PR people are looking for. The trending feature of the website, often sparked by the hash-tags (tweets starting with # which then are tracked), could boost the awareness of the campaign, or client the PR agency are representing.
In a time where media is such an influential part of everyday life, a PR agency that is not on Twitter will be over looked, it is an obvious platform PR professionals should be on. Therefore being on Twitter can help establish a PR agency and demonstrate their expertise in the field of social media, which is such an imperative part of today’s society.
There are those though who do not know how to make Twitter work for them as demonstrated on the Huffington Posts blog, the worst 8 Twitter PR fails, which can be read here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/04/worst-twitter-pr-fails_n_844748.html#s261118&title=Marc_Jacobs_Intern .
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Out with the old… in with the new
Remember those big pieces of paper, sold in shops, which contained news, entertainment and sports? Called a newspaper? Yes, people today still have access to newspapers but how long will it be before people are asking those questions? The newspaper has been in steady decline for a number of years, and with the News of the World being shut down because of the phone hacking scandal after 168 years of circulation; and other Murdoch papers also at risk of closure from the same scandal; the British press is disappearing from the shelves. Not all hope is lost though, thanks to the new digital technologies being introduced into society, and the essential element they have in common, the internet.
The internet has allowed the news organisations to make the move to digital saving the titles from extinction and allowing them to compete with the internet news that was already available. As well as being helpful to the news organisations themselves, their move to the internet has also helped the PR professionals, instead of having churned out press releases in the newspapers, the internet versions can contain links, to the client’s website, social networks and blogs, meaning that the PR professionals are given more coverage than they used to thanks to the internet. From a journalism point of view, the new digital technology has seen the use of consumer shot footage from mobile cameras, a part of ‘citizen journalism’. The internet also has a level of immediacy which means that instead of having to wait for their news the public can access it as soon as it happens.
Other technology developments such as ‘apps’ on mobile phones and tablets, such as the iPad have opened the doors of the internet to be accessible on the go. People are able to tweet their every movement, share the world through their eyes by uploading pictures on the move, they can ‘check in’ to places so people are aware of where they have been/ are. Although these seems like a great development in the world, and from a technological view they are, however, the boundaries of privacy and genuine online content are being broken down as people are revealing every unnecessary detail about their lives. This makes the sincere articles and opinions of people have to fight for the attention of the public, this being the missed feature of the newspaper as the content published was, often, reliable, with some exceptions. Reliable content is now harder to find due to these technological advances.
They do, however, play a part in PR success, with the internet accessible at all times it is easy for the PR people to update social network pages constantly, not allowing them to go cold and interest to fade. Also as mentioned above, links are easier to spread and easier to access by a wider audience, spreading the client’s message further.
The challenge for the PR professionals is to keep up with these technologies and be one step ahead at all times: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_zgJrTMyb8 a quick video from a PR person giving her opinions on new technology and PR in 45 seconds, and another that is similar just to highlight the points above: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRDyuM0GIxg&feature=relmfu .
The internet has allowed the news organisations to make the move to digital saving the titles from extinction and allowing them to compete with the internet news that was already available. As well as being helpful to the news organisations themselves, their move to the internet has also helped the PR professionals, instead of having churned out press releases in the newspapers, the internet versions can contain links, to the client’s website, social networks and blogs, meaning that the PR professionals are given more coverage than they used to thanks to the internet. From a journalism point of view, the new digital technology has seen the use of consumer shot footage from mobile cameras, a part of ‘citizen journalism’. The internet also has a level of immediacy which means that instead of having to wait for their news the public can access it as soon as it happens.
Other technology developments such as ‘apps’ on mobile phones and tablets, such as the iPad have opened the doors of the internet to be accessible on the go. People are able to tweet their every movement, share the world through their eyes by uploading pictures on the move, they can ‘check in’ to places so people are aware of where they have been/ are. Although these seems like a great development in the world, and from a technological view they are, however, the boundaries of privacy and genuine online content are being broken down as people are revealing every unnecessary detail about their lives. This makes the sincere articles and opinions of people have to fight for the attention of the public, this being the missed feature of the newspaper as the content published was, often, reliable, with some exceptions. Reliable content is now harder to find due to these technological advances.
They do, however, play a part in PR success, with the internet accessible at all times it is easy for the PR people to update social network pages constantly, not allowing them to go cold and interest to fade. Also as mentioned above, links are easier to spread and easier to access by a wider audience, spreading the client’s message further.
The challenge for the PR professionals is to keep up with these technologies and be one step ahead at all times: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_zgJrTMyb8 a quick video from a PR person giving her opinions on new technology and PR in 45 seconds, and another that is similar just to highlight the points above: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRDyuM0GIxg&feature=relmfu .
Monday, April 9, 2012
Facebook your way to being known
Over the past few years Facebook has become an essential tool for celebrities, bands, comedians and many other entertainers. Over 800 million people across the world are hooked into the social network, meaning there is a willing audience ready to be reached by those who target and use the website effectively.
Fan Pages: Facebook allows entertainers, or anyone with the internet, to create a fan page for themself or someone they wish to promote. Fans simply click the ‘like’ button and then they are ‘subscribed’ to the page’s updates and the person’s activities. Fan pages enable the uploading of pictures and videos, media content the fans can share with their friends further spreading the fan page to a wider audience, representing the ripple effect that social media is creating across the web. From an administrator point of view, the fan pages have a feature called ‘insights’, this allows the person controlling the page to view the audience’s demographics and the spread of the page, with seeing how many people ‘like’ the page it is easy to keep track of how popular the page is. This feature, when the page is being administrated by the PR representatives, allows them to keep track of what methods were effective by seeing how many people are ‘talking about this’ and by how many likes the page gained after the different activities. The administrator also has capability to add a Facebook button to blogs and official websites, allowing more access to the page. There is a flaw with the fan page however, as mentioned, anyone with the internet can create a fan pages, meaning that legitimate pages may be lost amongst those that are real, diluting the intended effect, distracting the much desired attention the PR people are aiming for.
Band Page: These pages are similar to the fan pages, they are ‘liked’ by fans and set up in a similar way; however with this page there is an additional feature called ‘band page’ allowing fans to listen to music, the band have uploaded to the page, for free. This rewards the fans for liking the band and also allows the band to keep track of how many people have listened to each track, meaning that if one is not receiving as many plays as the others, they can share the song on their page and encourage their fans to listen. Similarly to the fan pages, band pages can be shared by fans by going to the cog button (settings) and click share. This then will be turned into a link, with the ability to add a status above the link as demonstrated below:
Although some power lies with the followers and fans of these pages, in how the information is spread, the main power lies with the administrator, a top-down organisation, where they control the images, videos and information being fed to the consumers of the page.
Groups: These are different to the fan pages and band pages, as these are mainly top-down features of the social network; however groups allow the consumers to participate. A group on Facebook is how it sounds, in the way it is a select community of people with a similar interest, who can post in the group and share images and such. The format is comparable with a forum, people can either request to join a group or be invited by the administrator. It also doubles up as a message board, allowing those of a similar interest to post on the group’s wall, consumers contributing as members of this pseudo community. Although groups are not very helpful for promotion of the person/ entertainer the group is made for, it allows fans to share and connect, whilst also letting those in the ‘same business’ to post, perhaps leading to important contacts and resources for the entertainer ‘Yes, you want to encourage people to “like” your page. But building interactions with your content – getting people to like, share and comment on the things your organization posts – is where the Facebook magic happens’ (http://blog.prnewswire.com/2011/08/09/facebook-for-public-relations/ ) this is where the group differs from the ‘like’ page. A negative aspect to ‘groups’ is that it could involve spamming, which is the constant posting of often irrelevant content, which may put fans off being in the group as the constant notifications would become tedious. It also may lead fans into the direction of other artists, diluting their attention away from the group, and lessening their interest of the entertainer.
Profiles: These are the generic accounts on Facebook, however if you are an entertainer looking to build a reputation, then having a Facebook profile will be beneficial for fans to connect on a more ‘personal’ level, thinking that they have a connection with those they idolise. It helps the fans see their idols as someone that is ‘down to earth’ and willing to talk to the fans as if they had a connection. The issue with this is that if a fan posts on an entertainer’s profile and they do not respond due to a large amount of posts and such then the fan may feel ignored and stop liking the entertainer. Also with no verification on Facebook, as there is with Twitter, there are a lot of fake celebrity profiles, which have the potential to tarnish the real person’s reputation.
As shown above, Facebook is an imperative tool in networking, especially for the PR people representing the entertainers, however there are downfalls, as mentioned, that could do more harm than good. Meaning that whether it is the entertainer themselves or a PR professional using the site for promotion, these downfalls will have to be avoided and controlled for an effective outcome.
Fan Pages: Facebook allows entertainers, or anyone with the internet, to create a fan page for themself or someone they wish to promote. Fans simply click the ‘like’ button and then they are ‘subscribed’ to the page’s updates and the person’s activities. Fan pages enable the uploading of pictures and videos, media content the fans can share with their friends further spreading the fan page to a wider audience, representing the ripple effect that social media is creating across the web. From an administrator point of view, the fan pages have a feature called ‘insights’, this allows the person controlling the page to view the audience’s demographics and the spread of the page, with seeing how many people ‘like’ the page it is easy to keep track of how popular the page is. This feature, when the page is being administrated by the PR representatives, allows them to keep track of what methods were effective by seeing how many people are ‘talking about this’ and by how many likes the page gained after the different activities. The administrator also has capability to add a Facebook button to blogs and official websites, allowing more access to the page. There is a flaw with the fan page however, as mentioned, anyone with the internet can create a fan pages, meaning that legitimate pages may be lost amongst those that are real, diluting the intended effect, distracting the much desired attention the PR people are aiming for.
Band Page: These pages are similar to the fan pages, they are ‘liked’ by fans and set up in a similar way; however with this page there is an additional feature called ‘band page’ allowing fans to listen to music, the band have uploaded to the page, for free. This rewards the fans for liking the band and also allows the band to keep track of how many people have listened to each track, meaning that if one is not receiving as many plays as the others, they can share the song on their page and encourage their fans to listen. Similarly to the fan pages, band pages can be shared by fans by going to the cog button (settings) and click share. This then will be turned into a link, with the ability to add a status above the link as demonstrated below:
Although some power lies with the followers and fans of these pages, in how the information is spread, the main power lies with the administrator, a top-down organisation, where they control the images, videos and information being fed to the consumers of the page.
Groups: These are different to the fan pages and band pages, as these are mainly top-down features of the social network; however groups allow the consumers to participate. A group on Facebook is how it sounds, in the way it is a select community of people with a similar interest, who can post in the group and share images and such. The format is comparable with a forum, people can either request to join a group or be invited by the administrator. It also doubles up as a message board, allowing those of a similar interest to post on the group’s wall, consumers contributing as members of this pseudo community. Although groups are not very helpful for promotion of the person/ entertainer the group is made for, it allows fans to share and connect, whilst also letting those in the ‘same business’ to post, perhaps leading to important contacts and resources for the entertainer ‘Yes, you want to encourage people to “like” your page. But building interactions with your content – getting people to like, share and comment on the things your organization posts – is where the Facebook magic happens’ (http://blog.prnewswire.com/2011/08/09/facebook-for-public-relations/ ) this is where the group differs from the ‘like’ page. A negative aspect to ‘groups’ is that it could involve spamming, which is the constant posting of often irrelevant content, which may put fans off being in the group as the constant notifications would become tedious. It also may lead fans into the direction of other artists, diluting their attention away from the group, and lessening their interest of the entertainer.
Profiles: These are the generic accounts on Facebook, however if you are an entertainer looking to build a reputation, then having a Facebook profile will be beneficial for fans to connect on a more ‘personal’ level, thinking that they have a connection with those they idolise. It helps the fans see their idols as someone that is ‘down to earth’ and willing to talk to the fans as if they had a connection. The issue with this is that if a fan posts on an entertainer’s profile and they do not respond due to a large amount of posts and such then the fan may feel ignored and stop liking the entertainer. Also with no verification on Facebook, as there is with Twitter, there are a lot of fake celebrity profiles, which have the potential to tarnish the real person’s reputation.
As shown above, Facebook is an imperative tool in networking, especially for the PR people representing the entertainers, however there are downfalls, as mentioned, that could do more harm than good. Meaning that whether it is the entertainer themselves or a PR professional using the site for promotion, these downfalls will have to be avoided and controlled for an effective outcome.
Fan Culture and social media and PR, Oh My!
The creation of social media has not only opened doors for the creation of a vast online pseudo community, but it has also established smaller niche communities, such as the fan culture, ‘These fan cultures consist of people who are passionately committed to something and through various media forms are socially networked together’ (http://stephsblog-citizenmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2009/03/fan-culture-and-social-networking.html ). Before the expansion of possibilities on the internet, fans would only meet at conventions or shows, depending on what they were fans of. Social media has introduced the use of online outlets to socialise with other fans.
These social media outlets take a variety of forms, such as forums and blogs, where fans give their input and opinions about topics surrounding the base of fandom. These are just examples of the ways in which the fans are adapting to the new media they are presented with and applying it to their needs and community.
It has also allowed a connectivity with those actually involved in the thing people are fans of, for example an actor on twitter, once verified to prove the authenticity of their identity, can connect with the fans on a personal level, without the barrier of an interviewer. This, however, does not just benefit the fans but also the celebrities.
As described in Christina Warren’s post (http://mashable.com/2010/03/16/public-relations-social-media-results/ ), authenticity is key in successful Public Relations as it helps establish a good reputation, that being PR’s main aim. It develops a level of trust between those receiving the information and those giving it, meaning that the PR pros can target them effectively through the celebrities using their own social media.
Recently there has also been the introduction of fan-cliques over media such as Twitter, for example the ‘Beliebers’, Justin Bieber’s worldwide fan base. The group often dominates the trends on Twitter with phrases such as #EveryBelieberIsBeautiful and many more. Although this seems to unite a group of fans as discussed above, it has also created a window for cyber bullying, those who hate Justin Bieber will feel the wrath of the Beliebers and an out spoken Belieber will feel the wrath of the haters; all the while Justin is reaping in the benefits of being spoken about, providing more evidence that these fan-bases are evermore essential to successful PR and building reputation.
Henry Jenkins speaks of fandom in ‘convergence culture’ (taken from http://gatheringinlight.com/2009/03/10/fan-culture-and-virtual-communities/ ): ‘Participation – There is an openness for people to participate at all levels within the community. They are so inspired by it they write music, create events, etc.’ This is the element of fandom that benefits the PR professionals, the fans are creating events based around their topic of interest, meaning they giving the base of their fandom free publicity, this also applies to viral videos created by fans that circulate and increase awareness of the original source.
An example of this is of Beyonce’s track ‘Single Ladies’ fans of the international singer use the video sharing website, YouTube, to upload their own versions of the video, some being watched by millions. Such as the video of the ‘Single Ladies’ flash mob in London http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLj5zphusLw over 8,000,000 people have viewed this video spreading the song and artist to many around the world. This free publicity is an advantageous element of the new social media to people in Public Relations, helping establish a reputation for clients without putting in the man hours themselves, making reputation easier to build and clients simpler to promote.
These social media outlets take a variety of forms, such as forums and blogs, where fans give their input and opinions about topics surrounding the base of fandom. These are just examples of the ways in which the fans are adapting to the new media they are presented with and applying it to their needs and community.
It has also allowed a connectivity with those actually involved in the thing people are fans of, for example an actor on twitter, once verified to prove the authenticity of their identity, can connect with the fans on a personal level, without the barrier of an interviewer. This, however, does not just benefit the fans but also the celebrities.
As described in Christina Warren’s post (http://mashable.com/2010/03/16/public-relations-social-media-results/ ), authenticity is key in successful Public Relations as it helps establish a good reputation, that being PR’s main aim. It develops a level of trust between those receiving the information and those giving it, meaning that the PR pros can target them effectively through the celebrities using their own social media.
Recently there has also been the introduction of fan-cliques over media such as Twitter, for example the ‘Beliebers’, Justin Bieber’s worldwide fan base. The group often dominates the trends on Twitter with phrases such as #EveryBelieberIsBeautiful and many more. Although this seems to unite a group of fans as discussed above, it has also created a window for cyber bullying, those who hate Justin Bieber will feel the wrath of the Beliebers and an out spoken Belieber will feel the wrath of the haters; all the while Justin is reaping in the benefits of being spoken about, providing more evidence that these fan-bases are evermore essential to successful PR and building reputation.
Henry Jenkins speaks of fandom in ‘convergence culture’ (taken from http://gatheringinlight.com/2009/03/10/fan-culture-and-virtual-communities/ ): ‘Participation – There is an openness for people to participate at all levels within the community. They are so inspired by it they write music, create events, etc.’ This is the element of fandom that benefits the PR professionals, the fans are creating events based around their topic of interest, meaning they giving the base of their fandom free publicity, this also applies to viral videos created by fans that circulate and increase awareness of the original source.
An example of this is of Beyonce’s track ‘Single Ladies’ fans of the international singer use the video sharing website, YouTube, to upload their own versions of the video, some being watched by millions. Such as the video of the ‘Single Ladies’ flash mob in London http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLj5zphusLw over 8,000,000 people have viewed this video spreading the song and artist to many around the world. This free publicity is an advantageous element of the new social media to people in Public Relations, helping establish a reputation for clients without putting in the man hours themselves, making reputation easier to build and clients simpler to promote.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
How Kony 2012 beat ol' SuBo
f you are reading this post and questioning who or what Kony is then you have obviously been asleep for the past 2 weeks. Joesph Kony is the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in Uganda, fighting with the government to make it a Christian nation. During his leadership the LRA have kidnapped an estimated 20,000children to use as soldiers or sex slaves. Those captives who resisted orders given by Kony and the LRA were mutilated and some even forced to eat their own flesh. This, however, was falling under the radar for most until the viral explosion occurred. The 30 minute video ‘Kony 2012’ http://tinyurl.com/89q2lxx uploaded on March 5th, soon dominated the news feeds of everyone’s social media, its aim to get the leader Joesph Kony arrested. From a Public Relations perspective they achieved the perfect online campaign.
Another tactic that furthered the campaign’s viral success was the use of celebrities. Music personalities Rhianna and Justin Bieber retweeted the video on twitter to their millions of followers, persuading their fans to take notice, when a celebrity retweets something it is given a level of importance to their fans; they admire and respect these celebrities and take their word as law. It also persuaded other celebrities to jump on the band wagon and spread the word. This is another reason ‘Kony 2012’ is now the most successful viral video ever on YouTube, knocking out old Britain’s got Talent runner up and singing sensation, Susan Boyle.
Although all of this was proving to be effective in its own right, there was another tactic that would secure true domination, active engagement. The audience ‘Kony 2012’ had already acquired were sharing and promoting the campaign, this itself is an active engagement, however the campaign took this a step further, moving away from the online domination it had secured and starting a physical domination. All over the world Facebook events were being set up to ‘cover the night’ in a V for Vendetta style meaning that a group of strangers would get together and plaster every surface in posters and stickers relating to the cause, this then meant that not only would ‘Kony 2012’ be all over the web, but all over the towns and cities in many countries around the world, without the director of the video, Jason Russell employing people to do so. A critique of this, however, is that all the events are set for mid-April, the hype had already started to die down until yesturday (02/04/2012) Invisible Children announced they will release a sequel video, jump starting the hype once more, meaning that the events created by the audience will receive attention once again, closer to the date of action, perhaps fulfilling the promises of the ‘cover the night’ tactic.
The negatives for this campaign are proving evermore to outweigh the positives. Such as evidence being given that Joesph Kony has not been in Uganda for approximately six years, although he is still an evil human and the crimes in Uganda still terrible, placing complete blame on Kony in the viral video lessens the authenticity of Jason Russell’s campaign as he is no longer a primary cause of terror in the 3rd world country. Grant Oyston (http://www.sabotagetimes.com/life/kony-2012-why-im-opposed-to-the-campaign/) illustrates ‘Last year, the organization spent $8,676,614. Only 32% went to direct services (page 6), with much of the rest going to staff salaries, travel and transport, and film production’, defying their name as a charity, and transforming into more of a popularity contest.
The ethical implications regarding money spending of the campaign and the clear negatives that are being discovered do not over shadow the fact that this campaign was highly successful and achieved its aim of viral domination; demonstrating the effectiveness of social media and PR in practice.
People all over the world were sharing the video, talking about the campaign, writing statuses and tweeting; this meant that Kony, KONY2012, Joesph Kony and others to a similar effect, became trending topics on twitter, encouraging those who were not previously aware to tap into their natural curiosity and discover what Kony was for themselves. When people were lead to the video an additional technique is used to persuade those viewing to ‘share’ the message and the video; this can be considered as subliminal messaging to a degree. From the very start of the video Facebook is mentioned, exclaiming how there are more people on Facebook now than there were on the planet 200 years ago, proving firstly the expansive reach of the social network. As the video progresses the images flash from YouTube videos panning in on the share button after each point is made, causing the image of the share button to embed itself into the viewer’s mind, assisted with the talk and images of twitter and Facebook, a subliminal mental link is formed telling the audience to share this video and cause with these 800 million on Facebook and the millions on twitter, and after the horrific message, who will not want to share? This partially explains the viral success. As the actual charity behind the video ‘invisible children’ already had many followers and fans on Facebook it was easy for them to give their video the initial boost it needed.
Another tactic that furthered the campaign’s viral success was the use of celebrities. Music personalities Rhianna and Justin Bieber retweeted the video on twitter to their millions of followers, persuading their fans to take notice, when a celebrity retweets something it is given a level of importance to their fans; they admire and respect these celebrities and take their word as law. It also persuaded other celebrities to jump on the band wagon and spread the word. This is another reason ‘Kony 2012’ is now the most successful viral video ever on YouTube, knocking out old Britain’s got Talent runner up and singing sensation, Susan Boyle.
Although all of this was proving to be effective in its own right, there was another tactic that would secure true domination, active engagement. The audience ‘Kony 2012’ had already acquired were sharing and promoting the campaign, this itself is an active engagement, however the campaign took this a step further, moving away from the online domination it had secured and starting a physical domination. All over the world Facebook events were being set up to ‘cover the night’ in a V for Vendetta style meaning that a group of strangers would get together and plaster every surface in posters and stickers relating to the cause, this then meant that not only would ‘Kony 2012’ be all over the web, but all over the towns and cities in many countries around the world, without the director of the video, Jason Russell employing people to do so. A critique of this, however, is that all the events are set for mid-April, the hype had already started to die down until yesturday (02/04/2012) Invisible Children announced they will release a sequel video, jump starting the hype once more, meaning that the events created by the audience will receive attention once again, closer to the date of action, perhaps fulfilling the promises of the ‘cover the night’ tactic.
The negatives for this campaign are proving evermore to outweigh the positives. Such as evidence being given that Joesph Kony has not been in Uganda for approximately six years, although he is still an evil human and the crimes in Uganda still terrible, placing complete blame on Kony in the viral video lessens the authenticity of Jason Russell’s campaign as he is no longer a primary cause of terror in the 3rd world country. Grant Oyston (http://www.sabotagetimes.com/life/kony-2012-why-im-opposed-to-the-campaign/) illustrates ‘Last year, the organization spent $8,676,614. Only 32% went to direct services (page 6), with much of the rest going to staff salaries, travel and transport, and film production’, defying their name as a charity, and transforming into more of a popularity contest.
The ethical implications regarding money spending of the campaign and the clear negatives that are being discovered do not over shadow the fact that this campaign was highly successful and achieved its aim of viral domination; demonstrating the effectiveness of social media and PR in practice.
And then there was social media and PR saw that it was good!
Henry Jenkins (blogger and media wiz) said: “New media are created, dispersed, adopted, adapted, and absorbed into the culture at dramatic rates” (http://henryjenkins.org/2006/11/eight_traits_of_the_new_media.html)
Web 2.0 saw the emergence of social media, new and extensive ways of communication to a world of people online. As opposed to the generic top down format the media has always taken, such as the press barons feeding the news to the consumers, with social media the consumers can now contribute in what is quickly becoming a bottom up media world; the consumers are wanting to become the producers.
Social media in the forms of social networks, micro-blogging and blogging have conquered the attention spans of those online. An article on the Telegraph website explains the grasp social networks alone have on the world, mainly the youth, with 9 out of 10 students being distracted by a social network such as Facebook and Twitter once an hour (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/8781704/UK-students-most-distracted-by-social-media.html) From a ‘normal’ society view, the social networks are harming real social interaction and shortening attention spans; however this dominating aspect of the social media is nothing but positive from a Public Relations perspective.
Social media gives the illusion of being social; there is an aspect of ‘sharing’ on the social network websites that form a pseudo community. PR professionals are tapping into this community, subliminally making them do their work for them by sharing the PR client's content for free, to their friends or followers, depending on the social media type; who will then go on to share to theirs, so on and so forth.
Drawing back to the Jenkins’ quote, PR companies are quickly creating social networking pages for their campaigns/clients, dispersing them at a dramatic rate through the use of hash tags (Twitter categorising method), they have had to adopt language and techniques that have come with the new social media in order to use it effectively, involving adapting to the new media as well, concluding with their efforts being absorbed in to the culture very quickly. Proving that social media, although poisonous to some, for PR companies it is an outlet for mass communication, helping achieve their goals on an international scale, such as the viral domination of the Kony 2012 campaign.
Social media in the forms of social networks, micro-blogging and blogging have conquered the attention spans of those online. An article on the Telegraph website explains the grasp social networks alone have on the world, mainly the youth, with 9 out of 10 students being distracted by a social network such as Facebook and Twitter once an hour (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/8781704/UK-students-most-distracted-by-social-media.html) From a ‘normal’ society view, the social networks are harming real social interaction and shortening attention spans; however this dominating aspect of the social media is nothing but positive from a Public Relations perspective.
Social media gives the illusion of being social; there is an aspect of ‘sharing’ on the social network websites that form a pseudo community. PR professionals are tapping into this community, subliminally making them do their work for them by sharing the PR client's content for free, to their friends or followers, depending on the social media type; who will then go on to share to theirs, so on and so forth.
Drawing back to the Jenkins’ quote, PR companies are quickly creating social networking pages for their campaigns/clients, dispersing them at a dramatic rate through the use of hash tags (Twitter categorising method), they have had to adopt language and techniques that have come with the new social media in order to use it effectively, involving adapting to the new media as well, concluding with their efforts being absorbed in to the culture very quickly. Proving that social media, although poisonous to some, for PR companies it is an outlet for mass communication, helping achieve their goals on an international scale, such as the viral domination of the Kony 2012 campaign.
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