Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Emerging Communication Technology

This week we're exploring new communication technology that is changing public relations and business communication. What are the latest technological trends impacting corporate communicators? What are the implications for the future of PR? Students and Professionals are invited to post your insights on the subject here. Thanks!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Online MediaRooms! Blogs! RSS!

There are a lot of technologies that are impacting PR pros.

I'd say that there are two primary pillars of this evolution:
1. Content Management. Regardless of whether a communications professional uses a content management system (CMS for further reference) or happens to have a great relationship with their IT team...the big question is...can you make changes to the website RIGHT NOW. Can you post news releases? Can you respond to crisis scenarios immediately (within minutes and hours) without reliance upon a webmaster?

That's Q/A #1

Number 2 is the automation of certain menial PR tasks such as posting a news release to the website. Journalists are going to company websites in real time...NOW. Can you guarantee that the news release that you put out over the wire is going to be on your company's website a moment later? Mostly not.

RSS and blogs are great and will change communications for sure. RSS is a delivery language much like email in that it can "auto-deliver" news but outside your inbox. Better...faster...cool.

Blogs are something that PR pros are going to have to be aware of from both an outbound and an inbound standpoint. Companies that have a strong culture or opinion might want to produce or manage a corporate blog. Companies definitely want to track and manage blogs that talk about their industry.

High level...better web content management tools allow PR pros to manage their own sections of the company website in real time. Better distribution tools allow PR pros to better manaage reputation on the Internet and in the blogosphere.

It's a good time to be in the business...better be web-savvy!

Call me if you want to talk about it live!

Anonymous said...
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College Bloggers said...

Dee, Thanks so much for your practical feedback on this topic. Students were complaining in class yesterday that there was not enough information out there for them to assess ways emerging technology will impact the PR business, and specific uses of these new forms of technology. Your prompt response here will, hopefully, stimulate constructive conversation among students.
I appreciate your input.