The road to a reflection of Contemporary Issues in Public Relations

Hello and Welcome aboard,

As part of looking at the Public Relations Trends, I would like to introduce you to what we will be sharing in the coming few weeks, perhaps up to April. Having started with an introduction to social media last week, this forum of yours will be looking at issues in the PR industry, their emergence and what we all make out of such issues.

From looking at spinning especially during times of war as a starter, we will go on to look at the new challenge to the power of PR which comes in the name of transparent New Media. Thus, we will discuss if PR is walking in the same line with New Media revolution or if it is being left behind.

The following week will see us reflecting on the relationship between culture and PR i.e how communications is influenced by organisational and cultural cultures. We can’t talk of PR without ethical issues and this will also take centre stage later as we will be reflecting on some of the theoretical models that buttress PR Industry’s ethical constructs and practices; reflect on issues of spinning again and in the later weeks share ideas on why practitioners love a crisis, among others. So you can see that there are a wide range of issues to reflect on and discuss.

But let me be quick to point out that the forum will also be a reflection and response to PR Issues that Masters in Public Relations students at University of Westminster in London will also be looking at in class. However, the analysis (and obviously reflection) will be from my own point of view.

Social media is about two-way communication as such, I would be grateful to have your relentless comments of these topics. Certainly all your views, comments and general feedback will be appreciated and without doubt will add value to this blog. Above all, flexibility is the "nickname" of this blog so let’s apply and enjoy it.

PR and Social Media- students' perspective

The term social media is now a massive phenomenon and a darling to the close to 2billion people who use the internet today. As the popularity of social media continues to rise, organizations of all types and sizes are becoming aware of the ways in which the social media phenomenon can help them better comprehend, respond to, and attract the attention of their target audience. Its power cannot be underestimated.

For example, more than 500 million people are active users of Facebook and 50% of this log on in any given day. An average user has 130 friends and people spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook, according to recent research by facebook. It is said that if facebook were a country, it would be the fourth largest.

It is against this backdrop that businesses are now jumping on the social media bandwagon at a fast rate, embracing blogs, social networks, wikis, and other vehicles to achieve their marketing and public relations goals. No wonder, there are over 200 million blogs, 54% of bloggers post content or tweet daily and 34% of bloggers post opinions about products and brands.

The Public Relations industry is one such that inevitably embraces social media to reach out to its publics, perhaps for obvious reasons. But before going further, it is paramount to appreciate the knowledge that students and other up and coming bloggers have about this new phenomenon and how beneficial they think it is to the industry.

In this video, I take you through to how students view this phenomenon and its benefits. 

To blog or not?

Blogging has certainly risen above its infacy as millions of surfers are now familiar with this term. Bloggers, especially in Public Relations continue to rise in fame but some surfers still have questions regarding this phenomenon. Why blog for your PR organisation? What are the benefits? Does it matter? Whither PR blogging? I will attempt to respond to these questions and justify why blogging, especially in PR field is an inevitable phenomenon.


1. Blogging for your organisation promotes transparency
 If an organisation's structure is a building, then blogs serve as the windows – they allow customers to peer inside and see what is happening internally with greater precision than ever before
2. Blogging drives traffic to your website
This is one of the most pertinent reason for blogging. A blog simply is the best way to bring traffic to your Web site. This is especially the case if you are rolling out a new Web site that needs to establish its presence
3) An organisation blog puts a human voice to your company’s name




For more information about blogging, check this link:

Blogging and video workshop

View more presentations from Matt holland.