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

trapped in the whirlwind of social media catastrophe.

1.2 Opportunities

Among the many opportunities social media offers to Public Relation practitioners,                (Boitnott, 2017) says the following are worth noting:

Influencing journalist's stories: Social media offers the PR practitioner opportunity to influence the perceptions of journalists. The public can actually see PR professionals on social media when they address a crisis, but many works behind the scenes to shape a brand's image. When a trending topic arises, journalists often put their ear to social media to see what people are saying. Public relations professionals will often join that online discussion in order to influence journalists to present a certain angle. PRO may not always end up seeing the published story they like, but they can still, use social media as a tool to keep their angle in the public eye.

For example, there may be a trending issue about an organization on Facebook.  A PR professional can join that online discussion and give information basing on the side of the organization, hence influencing journalists who may have gone there online to look for news.

 Finding influencers:  Influencers give brands a voice they could never use on their own. Social media influencers have massive digital followings that brands can tap into to promote offerings and protect reputations. When public relations professionals create relationships between brands and influencers, they're really adding another line of both promotion and defence the brand can use to its advantage.

For instance, if a particular celebrity is having may followers, a PRO can use that celebrity`s page

to promote the institution because many people will get to know about it through following the celebrity and many would want to be identified with the institution because of the celebrity.

Another opportunity offered by social media to a PRO is identifying the brand or institutional threats. Social listening gives professionals the power to understand the public's opinion before it turns into a trending topic. They can proactively find and address online threats and possibly prevent a major brand reputation crisis.  A public relations expert should consider using one of the dozens of social listening tools out there to understand what social media users really think.

It is also worth noting that social media opens doors to the PRO to swiftly react to negative press.  Social media is one of the first places people look for a brand's reaction to a negative claim. Public relations professionals may use a company account to craft and publish an immediate response and direct the public to another medium for more information. Social media gives public relations professionals immediate access to a large, attentive audience.

For example, if there is a post online giving wrong information about the institution on Facebook, the PR professional can react to the post and at the same time referring people to an official social platform like Twitter of the institution for more information and clarity.

1.3 Threats

Despite the many potential benefits and opportunities, social media offers to PROs and its users, social networking appears to provide a rich setting and fertile grounds for threats and other misdeeds to the same. In fact, it is like old wine in new bottles as argued below:

With the excitement that social media networking has made access to information very simple/ unpretentious, with the increasing info-superhighway, this becomes a threat to the field of PR. When there is a lot of information inflow, there also exist info-overload so much so that it becomes too much for consumption. This can lead to missing out the most important information and you settle for less important details. This also poses a threat to one of the most important functions of the PRO which is research. Information overload can cause laziness in the PR field.

Another threat that social media poses to the PR field is a financial crisis. A Public Relations officer with so many social media platforms is most likely to suffer financial crisis because to keep all these platforms running, there must be constant data to run them and for the case of Uganda, you also need extra money to cater to the OTT (Tax). This is not very easy to maintain hence, he or she may easily miss out some information when out of date because of the crisis.

The multiplicity of social media platforms is another big threat to the Public Relation practitioner. Communication platforms offer a swift, easy way of disseminating messages across to the target audience; but the huddles to choose the right communication channels for clients could be scrupulous. Though many social media are free to use, even if they need paying subscription for some services, it is still convenient to use. However, a lot of time-investment needs to be made needs reach out to the right audience, passing your messages across to them and getting desired results.

1.4 Conclusion

Although social media poses some threats to the PR field, it also plays a crucial role in connecting people and developing relationships, not only with key influencers and journalists covering your company's sector, but also provides a great opportunity to establish customer service by gathering input, answering questions and listening to their feedback.

REFERENCES

 Boitnott, J,. (2017). Why you should Use Social Media as PR Platform. Available at: https://www.inc.com/john-boitnott/bhow-social-media-is-now-your-primary-public-rel.html

Broom, G.M. (2009). Cutlip and Centre’s Effective Public Relations, 10th edition. New Jersey Education, Inc

Grunig, J.E; Hunt, T., (1984), Managing Public Relations (6th ed.), Orlando, FL: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. Available at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_relations

Kietzmann, Jan H.; Kristopher H., (2011). "Social media? Get serious! Understanding the functional building blocks of social media". Business Horizons (Submitted manuscript). 54 (3): 241–251. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media