HABERMAS PUBLIC SPHERE

 By Lawrence Sunday Ogwang

Who is Habermas?

Jürgen Habermas is a German philosopher and sociologist in the tradition of critical theory and pragmatism or practicality. He was born on the 18 June 1929. He is one of the most important German philosophers of the second half of the 20th century. His work addresses communicative sagacity or rationality and the public sphere.

 In his scholarly life, he preoccupied himself with the question what power do the public have to influence the government in a democratic state? As he grappled with this, as a result, he came out with the idea of public sphere.

What is public sphere?

The public sphere is an area in social life where individuals

Herbert Marshall McLuhan`s Theories: Medium is the message, Global Village, Extnsions of man and Technological Determinism

 By Lawrence Sunday Ogwang

1.1 Who is Herbert Marshall McLuhan?

Herbert Marshall McLuhan was a Canadian noted philosopher and media theorist whose work form the cornerstones to the study of media theory. He was born on July 21, 1911, and he died on December 31, 1980.

In his academic life, he dealt with so many concepts which later turned into theories. This include; medium is the message published in 1967. McLuhan later adopted the term "massage" to denote the effect each medium has on the human sensorium, taking inventory of the "effects" of numerous media in terms of how they "massage" the sensorium.

Another of his work is understanding the media: An extensions of man, a 1964 book in which he proposes that the media, not the content that they carry, should be the focus of study. He suggests that the medium affects the society in which it plays a role mainly by the characteristics of the medium rather than the content. The book is considered a pioneering study in media theory.

In his other book The Gutenberg Galaxy, he is believed to have made a prediction of what he calls the global village referring to the interconnectedness of the world through technology.

Technological determinism is a reductionist theory that assumes that a society's technology determines the development of its social structure and cultural values. Technological determinism tries to understand how technology has had an impact on human action and thought. Changes in technology are the primary source of changes in society. The term is believed to have originated from Thorstein Veblen (1857–1929), an American sociologist and economist.

1.2 Medium is the message:

"The medium is the message" is a deliberately paradoxical phrase

SOCIAL MEDIA AND THE PUBLIC RELATION FUNCTION

 By Lawrence Sunday Ogwang

1.1 Definitions

According to Kietzmann, et al, (2011), Social media are interactive computer-mediated technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, career interests and other forms of expression via virtual communities and networks.

 It is a web-based application that enables users to come up with a profile in a closed system, form a collection of other users with similar ideas and connections. Their nature and identities, however, differ from one site to another. Prominent examples of social media sites are Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Instagram, and many others.

On the other hand, according to Grunig and Hunt (1984), Public relations (PR) is the practice of deliberately managing the spread of information between an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a non-profit organization) and its publics.

With the advent of the 21^st century, the world has experienced many changes in the areas of technology because of the internet. Broom (2009) observes that the internet is a manifestation of an ever-present means of communication considering that all the new forms of media rely on the internet. Key among the many changes brought by the technology is social networking sites that facilitate communication.

These variations like social media do not only expose users to various opportunities but also threats in different ways. Public Relations practice is no exception in this case. With the introduction of social media, public relations practitioners have changed thoughts and winning people`s opinions about themselves and the organizations they work for using the said media but also sometimes they find themselves