Blog: Short for Web log
Courtney Knutson
The latest and greatest form of social media and one of the largest outlets used by all kinds of people are blogs. Not only are people using blogs to write about their personal experiences, but public relations professionals are using blogs to communicate with clients, stakeholders, other professionals, colleagues and future clients. As the newest trend, blogs are also most conveniently used to convey and expressing other fast growing, creative trends converging in public relations.
Dr. Mihaela Vorvoreanu, professor at Purdue University and creator of People Research Connections (PR Connections), a blog about research in public relations and other topics, explains, “Blogs move the profession to…higher professional standards and help prove the value of the profession to clients and society,” Vorvoreanu says. “Through blogs, public relations practitioners can [educate] each other. They can create and share knowledge and best practices.”
According to PRSSA.org, there are over four million blogs on the internet today, with a new one being created every seven seconds. Not only do blogs help with networking and trading of ideas, blogs also help public relations professionals research about other topics and information. Also, because blogs are more popular and more widely read, they can sometimes substitute for traditional public relations practices, such as media pitches and news releases.
While blogging is an up and coming trend with professionals, so is the convergence of entertainment and publicity. This idea incorporates entertainment with the publicity or promotion of a organization or product. In an article in PublicRelationsIdeas.com, an example of this is how the Army provides viewers of their Web site with downloads of realistic war games that are created to give the audience an idea of what combat would be like. This trend is found commonly successful with a younger audience.
Some other common trends in public relations include Twitter, Facebook, online media rooms, and RSS feeds. Because public relations is modern and always leading in communication, there will continue to be new trends and ideas brought out in a variety of different forms.
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