Online Communities
‘At the heart of the internet is a sense of ‘community’’- Seitel 2001, pg. 405
The Challenges
There are many challenges for communities to reach online communities. Some of the challenges that online communities face are
- Dispersal- this means that communities find it difficult to reach communities online due to the fact that the people are ‘scattered’ all over the world and from all difference places and backgrounds.
- Anonymous- this means that people online can be anonymous or don’t don’t to reveal their identity, giving people to chance to say whatever they want online without a consequence of ruining their name. This has resulted in ‘trolling’ or people who just go on the internet to abuse and make others upset.
- Measuring effectiveness- online it is difficult to measure and evaluate effectiveness of a website. This requires different measuring tools and online tools.
- Online community activism- many people voice their views and opinions online about certain groups.
The Power of Online Communities to Effect Change
Atavism online has become a medium for people to create immediate awareness and mobilize change by thousands, as the web is so accessible now.
Relationship Building
‘Public relations practitioners who can offer journalists stories in digital formats suited to several media will thrive in the world of convergence’- Guth and Marsh 2009, pg. 108.
There are now many opportunities for relationship building through media convergence. Journalists and PR practitioners can now work together to assist each other in media coverage. This combines tele-communications such as wireless, computer technologies and media. It also offers participating culture and provides collective intelligence.
Publics are also now not only receivers or consumers of information but also are producer’s information, using online mediums such as facebook or twitter. This also strengthens the democratic role by
- Contributing to decision making
- Citizen journalism
- Demand for transparency for organization
Online corporate newsrooms
Online coroperate newsrooms provide information in an easy to access manner. They include the following features:
- Latest media releases
- Published articles about your organization
- A searchable archive
- Management biographies
- A photo/video library covering people, products and facilities
- Facts and RSS feeds
- Contact details for spokespeople and PR staff
- Links to social media accounts
Social Media Newsroom
Bloggers, opinion leaders, broader publics and jounalists use social media newsrooms. Social media newsrooms use the following features:
- Press releases/social media releases
- Archive, search function
- Audio visual
- Headlines and links to external reports
- Social media content produced by the company
- Basic organizational collateral
- Calendar of events
- Links to company-owned or company-related websites
- Communication staff contacts
- Social book marking services
Conclusion
There are many different ways in which PR practitioners can use the internet and online communities to engage with their publics and the world. PR practitioners can also use the internet to assist journalists further in their reporting and can use online resources, such as social media newsrooms and corporate newsrooms for their businesses/clients to keep online communities informed and up to date. PR practitioners also need to realize the power that online communities have to affect change- the internet and online communities have the freedom to post whatever they want to about whoever or whatever they like. This makes online services such as facebook or twitter, a resource for businesses that can be highly negative or highly beneficial.
Blog Review
Harrison’s Blog
This week I reviewed Harrison’s blog on media newsrooms.
I like how he included an introduction that was easy to read and give insight into the topic. He also included positives and negatives about online communities today and explored the argument of weather it is a positive or a negative for online communities to be so involved and have such a voice in the media. He also went into depth about our tutorial which was useful to read, and wrote a bit about the assignment which is due. Overall, his blog post was helpful to read and showed some perspectives of the media and online communities in clear understanding.
Below is the link to his blog
Public Relations 