What Journalists using Social Media could mean for Public Relations
I read a CNBC article a few days ago that said Facebook is now the second most visited Web site in the country. It is now only second to Google. If you weren’t already convinced, social media is not just a trend—it’s here to stay. At this point, even journalists are forced to conform. The article I read also mentioned how the new director of BBC Global News told journalists working under him to “get with the social media program or get out.”
As a public relations person I’m definitely on board, but there’s been a lot of discussion around journalists’ use of social media. It is an inevitable part of society that affects us all.
Social media and mobile technology are changing the way we access, view and understand information. We want content to fit with the mediums we use. We want a 140 character tweet that’s easy to engage with via our iPhones.
The new way consumers absorb information greatly affects the role of a journalist, consequently affecting the job of public relations professionals. If all journalists must become part of the social media scene, what does that mean for journalism as we once knew it? Is all news going to be shared via social media sites?
If so, those changes will affect the public relations industry as well. As a public relations person, a majority of the time is spent pitching journalists. Will that still be necessary if everyone, even journalists, live on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter
Why do you need to pitch journalists when you can post a story by yourself?
Social media has enabled anyone to be an author of interesting content. If Average Joe is a blogger with millions of followers, public relations professionals want to build a relationship with Average Joe even though he isn’t a journalist. He’s the person others are interested in. His Web site is the one people visit on a regular basis. That’s where you want your brand to be.
So, if anyone can be an author of interesting content, then what is a journalist’s job? Can a public relations professional eliminate the middle man and be the journalist?
The new director of BBC Global News further commented on social media usage to his journalists: “This isn’t just a kind of fad…I’m afraid you’re not doing your job if you can’t do those things. It’s not discretionary.”
It looks like journalists’ job isn’t what it used to be. And if a journalist’s job has evolved, the same holds true for public relations professionals. Public relations pros are increasingly distributing press releases online, pitching to journalists via Twitter and targeting blogs and bloggers instead of traditional media outlets.
The social media world moves so fast that best practices from a few months ago are already outdated and content from a week ago is old news. We are just beginning to see the changes in traditional journalism, and, as a result, public relations. Eventually something will come along that surpasses the magnitude and capabilities of Twitter, Facebook and every other social media application we see today. So what happens then?
This post was written by Jackie Lampugnano. Jackie is a media relations intern at Walker Sands currently studying Marketing and Public Relations at Loyola University.
Walker Sands accepts guest blog posts from outside contributors. If you are interested in contributing to Footprints, please contact guestpost@walkersands.com
Jackie
I think you are confusing journalism and content distribution. Journalists serve a much more important role than taking what PR has to give and then publishing it for everyone. It’s true that with social media companies have more direct communication channel to the public but that doesn’t mean the public prefers to consume that content.
Darryl
There will always be a place for good hard reporting. Journalism at it’s core isn’t going any where, but it certainly is evolving faster than ever before. I’d argue that social media has made reporting both easier and harder. Easier in that it’s easier to gather a story, but harder because the paper no longer controls these pieces of information. You’ll never see the death of good solid reporting of stories that take time and research to compile, but you may see the end of people compiling the news from the latest city hall meeting.
You’ve already seen a number of companies, athletes, and other personalities go around the press to speak directly to their audiences via social media. Coca-Cola has 5 million Facebook fans that want to hear what they have to say. Chad Ochocinco has 800,000 Twitter followers waiting to hear his next thought.
Both validate the thought that social media can be a conduit directly to consumers without any media filters. For both a journalist and a PR professional, these are examples that need to be better understood and leverage as an opportunity.
Darryl,
Thank you for the feedback.
I realize a journalist’s job is much more than just dealing with PR, and, as Mike pointed out, there will always be a place for good hard reporting. That being said, society as a whole has shifted its attention toward the rapidly evolving world of technology and social media. Social media has changed some aspects of both journalism and public relations, and it is inevitable that these industries will continue to evolve as social media does. I was merely questioning how it will impact journalism and public relations in the future, but by no means do I think that the entire public will prefer to only consume content via social media sites.
Jackie