Crisis Communication - How Will Russia be Covered?

In light of recent world events and my current essay-writing status, it's important to ponder how new communications technologies can be used in crisis situations. In researching how technology has effected the work of public practitioners, I came across an article entitled RUOK? Blogging Communication Technologies During Crises, by Mike Thelwall and David Stuart. Among other things, this academic journal article examines how new technologies were used in three of the most globally recognized crises in recent years, the 2005 London subway bombings, the New Orlenas hurricane and the Pakistan-Kashmir earthquake.

In a crisis, communication is critical and the evolution of the Internet provides the opportunity for more people to be informed more quickly from many different sources. New technologies such as blogs can influence what is reported, how it's reported the type of organization that reports it, the program format in which it's presented and the politics of the events reported. In the cases of the crises investigated, three forms of crisis media emerged including Wikipedia, Wikinews and Flickr. In particular, these new forms of media were used for sharing information and finding out facts concerning the initial event, afterwards however mainstream sources were able to deal most effectively with news coverage of its aftermath.

In terms of mass media, international broadcasters were represented during all three of these crises including BBC, CNN and Sky. In New Orleans, it was indicated that many local news stations were also sought after, but not in the London bombings or the earthquake. In the article, it is suggested that local media was more popular during the hurricane as it was a faster-moving crisis in nature and therefore real-time information may have been more critical.

Overall, the article indicated that the precise mix of communications technologies seemed to depend on the nature of the crisis, Wikipedia and Wikinews were only significantly present for London, local news was most important during the hurricane and no news was significantly more important than the other during the earthquake coverage in Pakistan.

What happened today in Moscow was horrific, and within time pieces of information will filter through the different mediums to reach global audiences. During this crisis, will blogs and mainstream media continue to be important, or will Twitter have it's place in communicating information about the crisis - from what I've seen today on Twitter, it already has it's place in crisis communication. With the widespread use of YouTube, and our obsession with seeing live footage, perhaps YouTube will provide the cutting edge, such as with this video below.



Personally, as I sit here in my parka in chilly Canada, I'm tuned into the BBC live-feed. Advances in technology force us to be more connected and less ignorant about the world we live in.

Awareness=Success in Social Media

Social media, to some merely a buzz word, to others the key to business success and for many an unknown realm of which they can't begin to understand the possibilities. Daily, there are reports and articles written about the newest social networking services to become available, one of the most recent being Blippy, which I focused on in my most recent post.

Millions of people each day log onto social media sites for various reasons, some looking for a way to pass some time or gather some information while others attempting to gain success through the expression of their thoughts. The way to gain success in the world of social media, is simple, you must be recognized and sought after. By providing a unique perspective, inside scoop or daring to say what others wont, you too can become a success in this realm.

In a news interview with Scott Monty who is the Head of Social Marketing at Ford and Michael Howard who is the CEO of Kiwibox, it was identified that in order for a company to be successful in the social media realm, they must understand why they are using social media in the first place. For Ford, social mediums are used for advertising purposes, but rather to communicate with their public. In order to build a successful social media plan, Monty provided the following insights used by Ford:
1. Companies need to focus on a social network that targets specific demographics
2. Must be able to find integrative and/or viral campaigns
3. Companies must be aggressive yet nimble

Howard who works for a social networking service designed for teens argues that what is most important in determining the success of an individual or an organization in the realm of social media, is their ability to determine which mediums are most effective.



Although these tips and insights may seem straightforward, it is undeniably important that companies and individuals alike have a plan before they start to penetrate the net for the purpose of being there. According to the article entitled Applying communication theories to the Internet, by Johanna Fawkes and Anne Gregory, public relations practitioners need to work harder to understand, anticipate and meet the needs of their publics and will be able to do this more effectively by determining the most relevant social mediums to their publics.

Please check-out this video which talks further to the point of the importance of knowing who you're targeting due to the amount of information available.

Shopaholics Beware - You're About to be Blipped!

What are you doing, when are you doing it and how are you getting there? It is an undisputed fact that today we are more connected than ever before to our friends and strangers from across the globe. Since the emergence of the Internet, we have more free access to news stories, information and social groups than ever before. Not only do we use the Internet to search for information, but we use it increasingly to communicate with one another.

Our obsession with sharing our woes with the sometimes unexpecting public began through the emergence of blogs. On a daily basis, bloggers can log-on and update their audience with the most intimate and often boring aspects of their day-to-day life, an undeniable cheaper alternative to therapy. Although still prevalent in society and increasingly more important in providing alternative news from the main-stream media, many blogs focused on the mundane aspects of the average were replaced by the use of Facebook. Facebook, provides the opportunity to provide updates more frequently to audiences and allows followers a one-stop-shop to be updated on the lives of all of their friends instead of visiting multiple blogs daily. The need for a more frequent, fast-paced social medium was desired and that desire was met with the creation of Twitter. With the opportunity to Tweet what you’re currently doing on your smartphone, audiences are kept constantly informed with your where-abouts and interests.

Just Tweeting what you’re up to arguably left too much to the imagination as indicated by Lisan Jutras in her news article in Sunday’s Globe and Mail. To make one’s life even more transparent, the new fad of geolocation allows social media users to indicate where they are at any given point in time; some would argue this is even slightly creepy. Not to fret, if you’re itching to share your global footsteps with the world, you two will have the opportunity to use this feature on your very own Facebook and Twitter accounts very soon.

All kidding aside, geolocation does have great potential to be beneficial to PR practitioners. With knowing where people are, where they’re going and what they’re interested in, we can better determine our audiences and focus our PR efforts more directly. Similarly, the newest personal-info disclosure service to surface the wire has the same potential to help PR practitioners better define their audiences. Blippy is a service that connects one’s credit card with their Twitter account. Whenever an individual purchases something, their Twitter status is updated with the vendor and amount spent. Why would anyone care and how does this help PR practitioners, you ask? Well, Blippy will let people’s friends know what their friends are interested in, what they are purchasing and perhaps where they can score similar deals. In the bigger picture and in specific why this matters to the world of PR, as written in a Tech Crunch article, “Many of the great businesses of next decade will be about making information about of our behaviors more visible”, according to Evan Williams, the CEO of Twitter, and this is precisely what Blippy will allow businesses to do. Blippy has the potential to determine customer desires, trends and perceptions; potentially we will be able to reach the right people with the right information more effectively and frequently.


For many, a service like Blippy is divulging too much personal information to too many people. Have we gone too far or is the sharing of this information a benefit to users and PR professionals alike? Will you be Blipping?

Want more information on Blippy? Check out the video below!

Social Media ....Will Shrink You?!

It’s no secret that technology has enabled the advancement and enlargement of many businesses. With improvements in technologies, companies can now reach more people, target their audiences more effectively and potentially become more profitable. Further, advancements in technology have even created the opportunity for new companies to emerge out of the woodwork. Companies such as FaceBook and Twitter have been created, all feasting on the desire that members of society possess requiring them to have access to information immediately and to be in contact with people constantly.

Companies are exploiting the connectivity of society to create solutions to perceived ‘new’ needs. Gone are the days that women gathered together to support one another in their trials and tribulations of weight loss at the weekly Weight Watchers meeting. Stealing a page from the Biggest Loser’s success story, numerous companies have decided to capitalize on society’s desire to be thin and have created social media platforms, where members can help one another to achieve their weight-loss goals.

Websites such as WeightLossWars, claim that members will succeed in their weight loss goals due to the support offered by staff and the sense of community facilitated with other members. With a society fascinated by the lives of others, companies such as WeightLossWars, have capitalized on profiling each of their members for which their reasons are twofold; 1) to encourage other members to obtain similar goals and to individuals that they are not alone in their struggle and 2) once information like someone’s weight is public, the member is likely to work harder to show their progress to their virtual community members which ultimately increases the sense of competition.
Other companies such as minnus , a Canadian networking-based organization, have used the hype of the most recent Olympic games to encourage individuals to increase their activity levels. The company is challenging people from across the world to get together in teams in a race to lose 12,000 lbs by 2012. The website promotes not only a healthier ‘you’ but ultimately a healthier world.

Further, with self-help guides such as Mashable: The Social Media Guide, becoming healthier and skinner was never so easy and accessible; with information from what to eat to where to get on-line support at the tip of our fingers. As society becomes more aware of the potential hazards of diet fad pills and easy-fix diets, what will happen to companies such as Herbal Magic and Weight Watchers? Will these companies who have feasted on the desire for society to be skinny for so long, become obsolete with the emergence of healthier, cheaper and more accessible on-line weight-loss support groups and resources? Is this a PR practitioner’s nightmare or an opportunity?

I suppose only time will tell – personally, I’m awaiting the emergence of on-line plastic surgery websites..perhaps we’ll learn to perform face lifts from the comfort of our very own computers one day!

They Say It's a Revolution...

Early this year, I was working with a group of students who designed a presentation focusing on how to effectively communicate to university students through social media. In their presentation, they included the linked video.

Understanding how to effectively use social media is extremely important to today's PR practitioners, and I believe this video is a good introduction to the importance of social media in our field. The message "Social media isn't a fad, it's a fundamental shift in the way we communicate", is a central concept to understanding how technology is impacting the world of public relations. As current and future practitioners, it will continue to become increasingly important for us to understand how to get our message to target audiences. As our target audience continues to become more and more connected through technology, so must we.




So, what do you think? Is this whole Social Media a fad, or is it our future?

Welcome!

Thanks for stopping by my blog created for the Public Relations Technology module at the University of Stirling. I'd appreciate any comments that you may have regarding my future posts and look forward to providing you the 'Canuck Perspective' on issues relating to public relations and technology. Please check back soon for updates, and visit often!

~ Katie