When a company decides to use Social networking sites to promote a campaign or product there are several issues regulating what is appropriate, in my blog entry the following issues will be explored.
What are the negative issues that may impact the effectiveness of a PR launch or promotion?
As well as are there any security or copyright issues that Public Relations companies or individuals need to bear in mind when planning a launch/campaign online?

Although PR usage in social networking sites can be an extremely effective technique in reaching more audiences it has many negative issues for campanies, the use of PR is quite restricted in how it can actually promote itself to its target audiences. Social networking websites such as Twitter, Facebook, Myspace and internet dating sites are still relatively new and for Public Relations and advertising purposes it is still very much in the experimental stage of its true effectiveness and whether it is actually having a more negative impact on a companies reputation.
Using social networking sites can potentially ruin the reputation of a company because of the open interaction of the sites. A member of a social networking site such as Twitter is easily able to post a ‘ tweet ‘ bagging a business or company or even a product or campaign of that particular company which could encourage several other uses of twitter or other sites to also express their negative to a company or product.
On another social networking site where as a company for example a night club can post an upcoming event their reputation also has the potential to be ruined when facebook users simple click not attending to an event, because if enough people click not attending the night clubs popularity or lack of is posted for everyone to see. Although posting an event can be a very effective and easy way to promote an upcoming event for a night club it can also backfire ruining the popularity of a certain night club which can stop people going their and potentially completely ruin the club.

A company does not have the power or ability to prevent bad things people may post about them but they can counteract negative feedback by staying professional and having more sites which generate a more positive view of your company and keeping this attitude strong with many loyal followers.
http://www.mlsalater.com/blog/index.php/2009/03/31/squash-negative-pr-on-social-media-sites/

Large companies with several employees are also encouraged to instruct their employees and advise them to be wary not to post things about the company on their social networking sites that could in anyway damage the companies’ reputation. An employee can have a massive affect on how their employer is viewed by the public which can be demonstrated as easily as a status on facebook or a blog on a bad day at work. A company using social networking sites to promote themselves have to remain professional at all times and must remember that although the atmosphere of these sites is a lot more relaxed than other forms of media and advertising the same rules apply.
The negative impacts can be easily avoided if the company or independent employer remain professional and regularly check how they are being viewed by the public in social media and within their chosen sites.

Although using PR and promoting campaigns on online social networking sites is a relatively new concept and set rules and regulations have not been put in place yet, companies and organisations still need to be very careful with there advertisements and have to remember to remain professional at all times. Social Networking sites are a very relaxed way of communicating between people, so when using pr and promoting your company or product you must take this into account but not get caught up in the informal use of the sites. Legitimacy is the key, users of social networking sites need to be wary of checking that the events and advertising of your favourite artist or product are actually coming from the real company it’s self. Independent business owners and companies also have to make sure that when using social networking sites to pitch their new campaigns that they have proven they are the real company and not a fake. The best way to prove you legitimacy or as a user to check if the advertising you are receiving is legitimate the first step is to have or make sure that there is a link from you page on the social networking site such as facebook to your actual website.
I think the main idea when using social networking sites like Twitter, Myspace and Facebook to promote your business is that although you are advertising to mostly young people in a relaxed and informal atmosphere you still need to treat it the same as any other professional pitch you would make, after all the power of opinion from one or two blogs on the internet could have a lot more of an effect than you may think possible.

As an industry, Public Relations has benefited greatly from the use of Internet technology. The specific avenue of Internet technology that I plan to focus on in this post is Internet social networking websites. Kami Huyse wrote an interesting piece about PR and social networking on her site, which also includes her opinion on five different ways that social networking is changing PR. You may want to take a look at this link: http://overtonecomm.blogspot.com/2007/09/five-ways-social-networking-is-changing.html

There are two questions that I want to answer in this post. Firstly, what are some examples of effective campaigns that have been conducted online using these social networking websites and how were they effective through utilization of internet technology? And secondly, what were the avenues Public Relations used to reach the public before the rise of Internet Technology?

The Internet is littered with social networking sites – in fact, there are almost too many to choose from. The most popular ones  among these are Facebook, Twitter and MySpace. It is almost uncommon today to meet a person who does not engage in some form of Internet social networking. This means that it is an invaluable resource for a PR practitioner wanting to get a message out to the public. Barbara Nixon makes some interesting points in her slideshow about the use of social networking sites for PR practitioners. To look at this slideshow, click this link: http://www.slideshare.net/bnixon/social-media-for-up-and-coming-pr-practitioners-presentation. An interesting thing that Nixon says is that by using social media websites, PR practitioners are able to make the switch from merely speaking to an audience, to sharing ideas. It would be thought that this type of communication as opposed to the public being told what to think, would be much more effective. This is due to the fact that people prefer to be part of an exchange of ideas, as opposed to merely listening to a point of view or ideas.

Let’s have a look at some examples of successful PR campaigns that used social networking sites to achieve a positive result. The first example of this is Coca Cola. This company seems to be always forward-thinking in terms of their marketing and Public Relations strategies, and their team was quick to act when two mere fans of the product, Dusty Sorg and Michael Jedrzewski, started up a Facebook corporation page for the product. The page became incredibly popular, but due to Facebook policy, the Coca Cola Company was contacted by Facebook and told that the page would need to be run by the company rather than the fans, or be shut down. Instead of taking control of the page themselves, Coca Cola contacted Sorg and Jedrzewski. After meetings with these two fans, Coca Cola made an agreement to let Sorg and Jedrzewski run the page, along with help from the company’s marketing team. For more information on this story see Karen Freberg’s blog by clicking this link: http://karenfreberg.com/blog/?p=749 This story is proof that big brands can infiltrate social media and have influence on the public in a non-threatening way.

Another example is the company Disney and its use of MySpace to create success with the dance-themed movie “Step Up”. The company created the MySpace profile specifically named for the movie, and very soon after had thousands of young teenagers requesting “friend adds”. The company decided to take a different approach – steering away from overloading teenagers with marketing information, and instead kept a steady stream of contact with their fans through constant updating of the profile page. By the time the sequel to the first movie had been released, the MySpace profile had 156,000 friends, and “Step Up 2 The Streets” became a box office hit. This goes to show that young people today value relationship, interaction and being part of a movement or lifestyle much more than being told what to do or what to buy. For more information on this campaign, visit this link: http://social-media-optimization.com/2008/03/a-successful-myspace-social-media-campaign/

These examples show us that companies have achieved success with marketing and public awareness through social networking websites. This technology has opened up opportunities that before may not have existed. Previously, companies may have been restricted to avenues such as television advertising, magazines or newspapers which has a limit to the amount of people who will be exposed to the campaigns. Social networking presents an opportunity to reach a much wider range of audiences, and is also an extremely cost-effective alternative. Internet social networking is the way of the future, and for businesses to realise this and make use of these available tools, it is probable that they will be able to more effectively promote their message to the public. 

Public Relations have used many mass medias over the years. There are press releases by PR teams sent to  media coverage’s such as the television, the internet,  the radio and the newspapers in order for public relations practitioners to send their message across to their targeted audience. With the update in technology, Public Relations has grown rapidly in the past decade in how they approach their demographic. “What has changed is the transparency and PR’s so-called gatekeeper role. No longer can PR pros consider themselves as gatekeepers. The gates are open. Conversations are occurring whether or not you (or the organization you represent) chose to be involved.” This quite was taken from an interview with a PR practitioner/journalist Jessica Flynn who states that in the growing world of PR, there are now more ways of communicating and transmissions of the information. Social sites contain people connected who can be classified into different groups according to their interests, age, sex, hobbies or professions. The web users for social networks engage in the information that the social sites provide and as stated before, they are addicted to what some social networks such as facebook, myspace or twitter provide. Public Relations have realized that social sites allow faster access to the demographic.The messages can be directed to a larger population in the targeted audience through social networks.

Interview with Jessica Flynn- http://www.hooversbiz.com/2009/03/25/using-social-media-in-public-relations-an-interview-with-jessica-flynn/

 What do you and your firm use the social media for?

We utilize social media in three main ways: to promote our company through establishing and maintaining an online presence for us as individuals and therefore our agency; to monitor for industry trends and breaking news that provides opportunity or potential crisis for our clients; and to grow the reach and reputation of our clients through engaging in the social web.

All of our staff maintain Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn profiles, and several of us blog regularly…….

You’ve been in journalism and P.R. long enough to see lots of evolution as first the Internet and now the social media have grown. What has changed for P.R. pros because of social media, and what has stayed the same?

What has changed is the transparency and PR’s so-called gatekeeper role. No longer can PR pros consider themselves as gatekeepers. The gates are open. Conversations are occurring whether or not you (or the organization you represent) chose to be involved. Social media has broken down the walls. In a way – I believe it has brought PR back to its true core. It is about communication and relationships again. Now it is about acting as a conduit for information. Finding the right channels to reach the people who want to hear your story. It’s also made relationships even stronger — bridged the gap in some ways between media and PR people. Made each other seem more human. I don’t believe that in our profession you can have a professional social media profile and a personal one — they are one and the same. Social media has made us all human again and able to communicate in a way that is intensely more personal and more meaningful.

Also — it has forced a lot of PR people out of their comfort zone. For the first time since the inception of the Internet, PR people have been forced to either get on the “bus” or get left behind in the dirt. Grow and evolve or go extinct.

Social sites is the modern way for Public Relations to connect with the public and a better way of notifying them of news, events, crises in business and also celebrities.

Positive aspects of Public Relations using social sites

There are many benefits for public relations practitioners to use social sites. Using other mass medias like the news and newspaper is still successful however there is a lot more efficiency transmitting information via social sites.

• Using social networks means there is a flattened hierachal structure of communication.

• Using social sites gives the ability for Public Relations to have a two way communication with its public of interest. It allows them to gain feedback on the information they have released and gain a thought of different opinions.

• According to “ 5 ways social networking is changing PR” the time shifting has also change where there has been a transcendence of time and distance in the communication process.

• Using social sites has appears to be more cost effective for clients as well as PR practitioners.

• Rather than the public seeking information, public relations can easily track its audience and send them information and news that they will be interested in.

Public Relation using facebook benefits me

       Being a young adult who is looking for things to do on my Fridays and Saturdays, having a facebook account allows me to receive messages by nightclub venues as well as hosts for special events. It is up to the managers as well as PR practitioners to find their audience through facebook. They simply can track one person who shares an interest in their night life entertainment then network through to their friends who too would want to be notified of these messages. Without facebook or myspace I would not be informed so easily about upcoming events and nightclub venues, there would be more effort for me to reach the  public messengers rather then them reach their audience.

 this is an example of a message that was sent through my facebook inbox about an event occurring next month.

( Open Rythm boat nation promotion of a night venue )

Joanna Asia Wysocki        1008socialnetworking

What is a social networking?

For the little that do not know, social networking is the building of online communities who share common interests, activities or have an interest in other peoples activities and interests. It is a new modern way of interacting with other individuals. The websites used for social networking are known as social sites and serve many functions for its web users. Social sites such as myspace, facebook , twitter and dating services like rsvp, not only allow web users to communicate with each other but set up profiles letting others to view their interest hobbies and basically themselves in a nut shell.
Here is a list of links of popular social sites used today.

Facebook – www.facebook.com
Myspace- www.myspace.com
Twitter- www.twitter.com
Rsvp dating service- www.rsvp.com.au

When did the social networks begin?

‘As Facebook enjoys its moment in the sun, we should take a moment to step back and look at the history of computers and social communication’ B. Mc Connell, 2008 “social networking from the 80’s to the 00’s”, Gigaom,Amercia. This quote was taken from an article and basically suggests that social networks have a prime time with its users where one day they are popular and then ten years later there are newer more advanced social sites to be a part of. The timeline below displays the dates of the rise in many social networks as well as the increase in some of their usage.

Napster launches.
2000 HotOrNot.com created with zero capital
2001 Wikipedia, an open collaborative wiki encyclopedia
project, goes live.
- Movable Type (leading blog software) initial beta
release
-Ryze social network service launches.
2002 10,000,000th Web server goes live.
-10,000,000th post on Blogger
-Friendster launches.
-Technorati launches with 12,000 blogs indexed.
2003 Venture capital investment in social network space
exceeds $50 million
-Wikipedia hits 100,000 articles.
-Howard Dean campaign uses blog and Meetup to
organize more than 100,000 supporters.
-LiveJournal and Friendster pass 1 million accounts.
-Skype released.
-LinkedIn, social network focused on business
professionals, secures Series A financing of $4.7
million led by Sequoia Capital.

MySpace, social network focused on music and
entertainment, launches.

2004 Skype hits 10 million downloads.
-Social Networking Metalist
(SocialSoftware.BlogsInc.com) lists more than 200
different social networking systems.
2005 Skype hits 100 million downloads.
2006 Google acquires YouTube, video social network,
for a stock transaction worth $1.65 billion.
2007 IBM launches enterprise social networking suite.
-LinkedIn surpasses 10,000,000 members.
-Germany social networking site OpenBC/Xing
successful IPO
-Wikipedia exceeds 1,700,000 English articles.
-Technorati indexes more than 80 million blogs.

The widespread

As the internet has evolved and increased its web users, so has social networks. With the change in technology, the social sites commonly used create new ways of interacting with individuals as well as features that can help make the social sites more interesting and beneficial for its users. As the social sites become updated the increase in its users occur. There is an article called “Hey come to this site often” written by Steve Rosenbush published in Business week 2005 discusses on the epidemic Myspace made on the world. The website containing uploaded photos, wallpaper, comments between people, music, interests, blogs and an about me section was said to have 14 million new visiting members monthly. There was even an addiction in some individuals to the social site like Myspace user Brian Carley.

The first thing Brian Carley does when he gets into his Manhattan office is log onto MySpace.com, a Web site where millions of people have created their own home pages featuring photos, music, and more. The 27-year-old Internet designer and musician sips his coffee and spends about 30 minutes browsing the site. He checks out the page for his band, The Moirai, scanning fans’ comments. Clicking on their images, he zips off to fans’ sites, reading their blogs or listening to their favorite tunes. He checks up on a former girlfriend or two and pores over the stories of complete strangers. Carley spends about an hour a day on MySpace — more than he does watching TV. “It’s kind of like watching a train wreck,” he says. “You can’t look away.”

Brian Carley is not the only person who appears to be ill for the amount of time he spends on a social site. Many people face to face discuss about the interesting comments and features to the Myspace and suggest for their friends to have it in order to have another way of communicating. The widespread of social sites has occurred from the update in the social sites as well as the word of mouth through people.

Joanna Asia Wysocki- (1800socialnetworking)

The topic we have come up with for our group assignment is ”How Public Relations has changed over the last 5-10 years with the rising widespread popularity of social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, and dating websites.” 

We plan to take an in-depth look at how Public Relations companies and also PR individual representatives have taken hold of these internet communication chains to create greater influence over a global audience, which has caused a huge change in the industry as whole. 

Watch this space!