PR Student

This blog looks at defining social media and describing the different types of social media. It also contains an analysis of Second Life and some anecdotal personal experiences. Finally I will discuss how all kinds of social media, including Second Life are likely to impact on public relations.

New social media tools are becoming a pervasive entry over other kinds of media in this digital age. People now turn to the Internet for their news and are able to get updates from more than just the traditional news channels by visiting blog sites and public forums. In such an environment it is becoming vital for public relations practitioners to set the agenda, not just with publicity stunts or a story on the nightly news, but with well-placed comments and a valuable presence in the social media.

According to Spannerworks this is a big deal that isn’t just going to go away. In January 2007 more than 63 million blogs were being tracked and this number had apparently doubled every six months for a few years. More than 100 million videos a day are watched on video sharing website YouTube, and social network MySpace had more than 107 million members. (Spannerworks, 2007)

Those working with big brands would find that social media is already affecting communications and business. “88 per cent of the top 100 brands have a Wikipedia entry (a community-edited encyclopaedia) in the first twenty results on Google, and MySpace delivers more traffic to HMV.co.uk than the Microsoft search engine MSN”. (Mayfield, 2007)

So what is social media?
According to Wikipedia, “social media describes the online technologies and practices that people use to share opinions, insights, experiences, and perspectives with each other”. (Wikipedia, 2007) Wikipedia is an important choice of reference, as it is in fact a social media tool -an online encyclopaedia that can be added to by anyone on the web, hence sharing its authorship, thoughts and insights.

Social media, also known as new media, incorporates various social networking tools on the Internet and includes things like web logs (better known as blogs); chat rooms, wikis, podcasts, virtual galleries, content management systems, forums, social networking and even virtual worlds like Second Life, which at first glance may appear to be a game but can offer so much more. Social media can offer interactivity, unlike traditional media, and can be changed quickly and easily. It also shares characteristics such as participation from any interested party, “[blurring] the line between the concept of media and audience” (Spannerworks, 2007). As well as openness to feedback encouraging voting, comments and sharing of information; conversation (rather than one-way broadcast, it is two-way); community – these can form around common interests and connectedness – combining different media in one place. (Spannerworks, 2007) Put simply, social media is Internet or online media that has the means to be interacted with in some way. (Scobleizer, 2007)

An explanation of various social media tools makes this point clearer.

Blogs can be described as online diaries – a log of the blogger’s thoughts. Blogs can be written in a personal way and can be about a certain topic, such as a PR student’s blog, or just a social mechanism. People visiting a blog are encouraged to leave comments, and the comments can themselves be an important part of the content. Some blogs have a political focus, hoping to persuade people who read them of the blogger’s way of thinking or as a call to action. The public relations blog by Amanda Chapel, “Strumpette”, (http://strumpette.com/) advertised as a public relations blog, but this does not stop her from discussing her views on politicians and other topics. The anonymity possible with a blog, however, means that Amanda Chapel may not be her real name, allowing her the freedom to express her real opinions. (Kurtz, 2006)

Wikis are editable websites that can be altered by anyone with access, creating a communal database. The best-known wiki is Wikipedia as described earlier. Wikis can be used to collaborate on projects or to share information. In my own experience working in a communications role in a University, a major project that I have worked on as the communications expert involved the use of a wiki. A document containing Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) had to be established for the help desk so that they had information with which to answer questions from customers. This same FAQ document was to be published online available for all on our web site. In order to ensure all bases were covered, we first submitted the FAQ draft into the internal wiki, which allowed all service desk staff the opportunity to edit this document. This allowed it to become a much more important and appropriate communication so that by the time it was published for an external audience, it was far more relevant than it would have been without the use of the wiki.

Social networks are web sites that allow people to create their own web sites and connect with friends, sharing content and communicating. (Spannerworks, 2007)
MySpace (www.myspace.com) and Facebook (www.facebook.com) are the main examples of online social networking services. Users can create their own web pages with photos, personal information, links to other sites or videos and music streaming, and lists of their virtual friends. To become friends on MySpace, you request to be a friend and the MySpace resident can accept or reject you.

MySpace was the fifth highest-ranked domain on the Internet, “surpassing both Hotmail and Google.” (Dodero, 2005) This means that its influence is very important and it has been used for campaigns and public relations events. MySpace was used by animal rights protestors to protest again Kentucky Fried Chicken. New records have been debuted on MySpace by bands such as Black Eyed Peas and Nine Inch Nails. (Dodero, 2005)

Podcasts can be either audio or video files that users can subscribe to. (Spannerworks, 2007) They can also be made available through other social media tools such as social networks. Deakin University uses podcasts to allow distance education students to view some lectures online when they are unable to attend in person.

Content communities such as Youtube (www.youtube.com) and Flickr (www.flickr.com) are online communities where users can share content, such as photos and videos. Mash-ups, where one or more kinds of social media are combined, are distributed in content communities. People often combine two songs and a video and offer it online.

Forums are in abundance online and almost every topic of consideration is likely to have a forum available on it. Often you may have to join a forum in order to post your comments. Often there will be a kind of adjudicator ensuring that the conversation doesn’t get out of hand.

Virtual reality or virtual worlds allow people to interact with a computer-simulated environment, which is usually available 24 hours a day. Many virtual worlds are games but the one most prominent at the moment is Second Life, (www.secondlife.com) which is far more than just a game. In fact if it is a game, there is no winning or losing. Millions of people have chosen to log on in order to live a virtual “second” life and explore a virtual world; one in which land may be purchased, goods may be bought and sold, and virtual money can be earned and traded for real dollars. This virtual economy is what has likely caught the most attention; the fact that some individuals have made their fortune on-line, which has transferred into real-life cash. Second Life’s first millionaire was made late last year, in the virtual form of property-developer avatar Anshe Chung and the human form of Ailin Graet. (Hof, 2006)

One of the points of having a Second Life is the anonymity. No one really has to know who you are in the “first” life. Your avatar, which is your online form, may be male or female, animal-like or human-like, short, tall, fat, skinny –as realistic or as fantastic as you please.

With all these people conversing online, trading and making money, it was only a matter of time before it would impact industries such as public relations. Real bands have virtual concerts, real politicians run virtual campaigns and now real public relations practitioners can influence virtual people. But they’re not only virtual – all of this virtual activity translates into the influencing of the “first” life. Companies such as Reuters, IBM, Nissan, Adidas and Sears have Second Life equivalents. Brad Kasell of IBM says “everyone acknowledges that there is business opportunity now.” (Four Corners, 2007) One reporter claims that PR firms are charging up to a million dollars to build company’s brands in Second Life, further hyping the media about virtual worlds. (Four Corners, 2007) Advertising agency Leo Burnett has now a Second Life. This “suggests the corporate branding blitz is also gearing up.” (Dwyer, 2007)

Professor Peter Yellowlees of the University of California, Davis, has set up an in-world replica of a real hospital wing in order to promote understanding of schizophrenia. People can experience virtual schizophrenia, paranoid delusions, and auditory and visual hallucinations. (Four Corners, 2007)

I joined Second Life to find out how it all works. My avatar, Tabitha Lindman attempted to find her way around this virtual place. To be honest, I found it very awkward to navigate around the place and had to upgrade the graphics card on my computer just so that Tabitha’s clothes would download properly. I was hoping that only I viewed my naked avatar, until another female avatar asked me why was I naked? Well – that’s the strange thing about this virtual world – I am presented by a cartoonish figure, yet still felt a little embarrassed by my nudity.

I discovered the joys of teleporting and did so… but was left wondering, what was the point? Once I ended up in a new place I didn’t know what to do there.

Second Life may be as lonely as your first life can be if you don’t have any friends.

So I logged on one day with a purpose. I was to meet a real life public relations practitioner online, in the form of avatar Maddie Damask. We met at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s ABC Island, and sat for a long chat under some virtual spotlights on a virtual stage. As awkward as it might be if you have to sit and speak with someone you don’t know in real life, was replicated in Second Life.

ABC Island was a public relations adventure in itself. Clearly promoting their television, their radio, their personalities and all they have to offer, ABC Island has little hubs you can enter to find out what’s on or just enjoy the atmosphere and listen to some music.

ABC Island seemed an appropriate place to interview someone and it was great to finally enter Second Life with a purpose. The purpose of my visit in this instance was to be a public relations student – the mentee, meeting a public relations expert – or mentor.
I (or at least my avatar Tabitha Lindman) interviewed avatar Maddie Damask. Maddie of course gave answers for her real self, but as Second Life can be anonymous, I could not say if what she told me is fact or fiction. Maddie Damask advised that she works primarily in internal communication, organisational development and change. Maddie works part time at an IT company and has her own business as well. Maddie said, “On the official side of things I did a public relations degree and a Masters in Communication. I worked in public relations for about ten years before specialising in internal communications.”

I asked Maddie to tell me a bit about her own company.
Maddie Damask: “My company is in the internal communications space, with a specialty in change. I also do a lot of training – training in change, communications, writing, even cross cultural communication.”
Tabitha Lindman: “What sort of clients do you have?”
Maddie Damask: “At the moment my largest client is a large food company – I’m working in their business services area helping them with a couple of major changes…to do with IT, actually.”
Tabitha Lindman: “Do you employ a lot of people?”
Maddie Damask: “Nah, it’s small – just me, but I do employ contractors when I need extra help.”
Tabitha Lindman: “What made you decide to start your own company? That would take a lot of courage.”
Maddie Damask: “Yes, it did – but I really like being in charge of my own destiny. It was kind of an experiment at first, but I’ve really enjoyed it.”
Tabitha asked Maddie about her thoughts on the ability of people to write and have good grammar, when such an emphasis is being placed on digital communications where abbreviations and a lack of punctuation is commonplace.
Maddie said, “Writing is so important. There are so many people I have interviewed for jobs who can’t write and don’t understand why I think it’s so important…my first boss in public relations was a stickler – active/passive, split infinitives, the lot. It was a pain at the time, but it taught me a lot. Now I’m a pain to other people!”

I thought it important to really get into the topic of Second Life, social media and its impact on the public relations profession. I asked Maddie what her thoughts on the topic were.

Maddie Damask: “I’ve only been in Second Life about 10 or 12 times in total. If it was just up to be me, after the second time or so I wouldn’t have bothered coming back. But it is becoming so important and such a topic of conversation, I felt I needed to know about it. The more exposure I’ve had, the better I’ve come to like it, but I can’t see myself spending hours here.”

I asked Maddie if she would consider using Second Life as a public relations or marketing tool for her own business or the IT company she works for.
Maddie Damask: “Maybe – but it probably wouldn’t be me doing it – it would be marketing, I would guess…I’m trying to get up a project at my IT company to do a Second Life experiment with teams that work in Melbourne and India – but we’re having trouble with the access.”
Tabitha Lindman: “What would that involve?”
Maddie Damask: “It’s a lot of technical detail that I don’t get around; providing access around the firewall. I’m working through it though. I hope that it could be a really interesting way to see if team meetings and interaction are better/worse/same between Second Life and teleconference or other options.”
Tabitha Lindman: “That would be a fun way to have a team meeting, rather than by Voicepoint.”
Maddie Damask: “That’s what I think!”
Tabitha Lindman: “And perhaps the people who don’t normally speak up would feel more confident to…although I have heard that people who are not confident or popular in real life have the same behaviour in Second Life.”
Maddie Damask: “Really? That’s interesting. I was wondering about that because we have some cultural differences between India and Australia – Indians are far less likely to speak up in group situations than Aussies. I was thinking maybe Second Life would make a difference.”
Tabitha Lindman: “Well – I think it should. Maybe people are slow to get into it. Then once they are comfortable they participate.”
Maddie Damask: “Yeah – that’s how it has been for me. It’s funny – you have to really pay attention to what people say here – because there aren’t any of the normal clues from seeing someone or listening to them. But I had guessed that you probably weren’t a usual 19-year-old student. But I’m not exactly sure why. I’ve done a bit of mentoring in the past and there’s lots you can tell about a person from the way they say things.”

Tabitha Lindman: “There was a student holding a Second Life tour last week, he took everyone to Hilary Clinton’s campaign island and things like that.”
Maddie Damask: “I was on the tour…I didn’t go to Hilary Clinton’s island, but that’s how I found this place [ABC Island]. It was very interesting. The public relations company Text 100 is worth you checking out. I found them very interesting.”
Tabitha Lindman: “What do they do? What is their online presence for? Is it for specific campaigns?”
Maddie Damask: “Text is real world and Second Life – they use their Second Life site for real clients, to meet, share ideas, do pitches. They also do a lot of IT public relations.”

Maddie had given me a direction in Second Life, which was to locate Text 100.

I located Text 100 and teleported there. When you first arrive, they greet you with a poster outlining their objectives and what their Second Life offices have to offer. Comprised of three sections, their island offers a welcome area, an information centre and an amphitheatre. I walk on and am greeted by an events calendar, which details their upcoming PR events for today, this week and future. Nothing much interests me with today’s events so I keep moving. A sign detailing their Second Life office hours is on display. So if I wanted to do business with them, I could have a virtual meeting with one of their staff members. I look around and find that this island can appeal to business people or students. One sign asks that I click on it for tips on writing a press release. I could also click and read the PR Week Award Press Release. The frustrating hurdle with this island is that I kept finding myself landing in water and having no idea how to fly upwards, had to keep teleporting to another island and then back again. So I eventually gave up from frustration. This made me think about the Internet and accessibility. If customers find your web information slow and cumbersome or hard to find, they are likely to give up. I expect the same could be said of Second Life.

I also visited “The Pond” run by Telstra and clearly associated with their Big Pond service. There were many advertisements and places to explore. It was beginning to become obvious that if you know where to look, many companies have an online Second Life presence, as they have a web presence. It seems that many public relations companies really are getting into the use of social media tools.

So what do the new social media tools mean for a public relations practitioner? How does it really affect the way in which they perform their role? There are a number of key activities that a modern public relations practitioner would need to consider that extend the boundaries of traditional media. Social media offers a new way of monitoring public opinion, influencing public opinion, speaking directly to publics and bypassing the gateways of traditional media.

Public relations work has always required the monitoring of the media and public opinion. You need to know how your client is portrayed in the media and what the public is saying about them. Social media offers a whole new way of achieving this task. Traditional media monitoring of on-line news sites is still possible through use of a media-monitoring agency. However, now the practitioner can go online, join forums and chat rooms, read popular blogs and find out what everyone is saying. If your client is likely to create an opinion one way or another, there is likely to be a blog or forum or discussion group dedicated to this topic.
“Newsgroups, discussion lists, and specially constructed sites for debating social, political and cultural issues abound on the Internet.” (Jankowski, 2006, p 66) You can gauge the public opinion by the comments placed on a blog or the back and forth discussion in a chat room. If before social media you would need to be a fly on the wall to listen to some of these discussions, now you can join up and participate from anywhere in the world.

Public relations practitioner, Chris Clarke monitors the virtual space every day as part of his role. In Chris’s online blog, “Tagged”, he says, “Media monitoring is an important part of public relations. It allows us PR practitioners to know what’s being said about our clients in places we might not be looking ourselves…Fortunately; there are many simple ways to monitor the online space.” (Clarke, 2007)

The ability to influence public opinion through social media is now much easier than it ever was before. Previously, you would need to carefully prepare a news release, submit it to the relevant news agencies and hope that they would consider it newsworthy and publish the story. Even if they did decide to publish the story, you could not guarantee that they would place it in the right context, or even show your client in a favourable light. With social media, a public relations practitioner can place comments in a blog, create their own blog, join MySpace and have a site dedicated to their client; join chat rooms, discussion groups, forums and place their own opinion. Public relations practitioner and blogger, Ed Lee says, “But now “the media” means everyone with a blog. Anyone…can be having a conversation relevant to one of my company’s clients and it’s my job to know about it. To monitor it, to report it, and if appropriate, to get involved by offering more information and furthering the conversation.” (Lee, 2007)

Some practitioners may do this in a deceptive way, where they don’t announce their interest in the topic and seek to influence opinion by placing comments to favour their client. Strumpette’s, Amanda Chapel says, “…by definition, a PR person has too much of an agenda to participate…Today, the savvy social media participant strongly rejects even the hint of PR’s influence. Why? Because we are all empowered now. We make our own choices and are offended when others try to make them for us.” (Chapel, 2007)

Other practitioners may be honest about who they are and who they work for, but seek to give some balance to the argument by voicing their client’s opinion, validate their client’s reasons or simply state some facts that may create some understanding among publics over a certain topic. They may ask for feedback from the publics in order to seem receptive to criticism and therefore open to suggestions and change; participating in two-way communication.

Many blogs and forums are sites where strong opinions can be formed and made stronger by others sharing those opinions, regardless of where they may be physically located. “[V]irtual communities [are] passage points for collections of common beliefs and practices that united people who were physically separated.” (Stone (1991: 85) – cited in Jones, 1995b: 19, cited in Jankowski, 2006)

The ability for any individual to rally public opinion, without the traditional media gatekeepers preventing them, means that public relations practitioners need to be vigilant in keeping the balance for their client. A popular blog can become a great influencer and this can greatly affect the public relations role. “…It is difficult to ignore how online technologies affect power and political culture.” (Luke, 2006, p163)

People online may be the most important people to influence first, according to some studies.
“[R]ecent studies and surveys find that Internet users tend to be more interested in current events; campaigns and political activists have already started using the Internet for a variety of purposes; users are more involved in civic and political activities than non-users…” (Rice and Haythornthwaite, 2006, p107)

Social media now offers public relations practitioners the opportunity to easily deal directly with their client’s publics. Instead of waiting and hoping that your key messages will be heard and distributed via the traditional media, you can now put those key messages out their directly into the social media. A term has been coined, Conversational Marketing, which describes “the bottom-up approach to communication where “broadcast” is replaced by connecting directly with customers. “ (Chapel, 2007) This can be achieved through blogs, through forums and all other social media. “Instead of having a media list of 50-75 journalists to send news releases and pitches to; there are now hundreds, if not thousands of people who write about our clients, their brands, their competitors and their industry…Brands should be aware of the conversation around their industry and, if the talk isn’t about them, they should be getting involved and starting new discussions and eliciting feedback directly from their customers.” (Lee, 2007)

The new social media cannot be ignored. Generation Y seems to use it like a religion and its impact cannot be underestimated. If public relations practitioners want to influence their publics directly, particularly teenagers and young adults, then social media must be taken seriously as a mechanism for facilitating this. With the lack of space and the inability to directly control the outcome of news in the traditional media, public relations should seize this opportunity to influence publics like never before and get their key messages heard.

References

Business Week, 2006, My Virtual Life, retrieved 7/3/07, http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_18/b3982001.htm?chan=search, 1 May 2006

Chapel, A, 2007, Is PR too stupid for conversational marketing? “Strumpette”, retrieved 7/3/07, http://strumpette.com/archives/300-is-pr-too-stupid-for-conversational-marketing.html, 6 February 2007

Clarke, C, 2007, Social media at work, “The Blog Herald”, retrieved 12/4/07, http://www.blogherald.com/2007/01/26/social-media-at-work/, 26 January 2007

Dodero, C, 2005, Lost in MySpace, “The Boston Phoenix”, retrieved 13/6/07, http://bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/top/features/documents/04838542.asp, 22 July 2005

Dodero, C, 2006, You and your tech-chic, “The Phoenix”, retrieved 13/6/07, http://thephoenix.com/article_ektid30132.aspx, 20 December 2006

Dwyer, M, 2007, ‘Born Yesterday’, The Age Green Guide, 26 April 2007, p6

Hof, R, 2006, Second Life’s first millionaire, “Business Week”, retrieved 24/6/07, http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/techbeat/archives/2006/11/second_lifes_fi.html?chan=search , 26 November 2006

Jankowski, N, 2006, Creating community with media: History, theories and scientific investigations, “The Handbook of New Media”, Lievrouw, L and Livingstone, S. ed., 2006, Sage Publications, London

Kurtz, H, 2006, Who is Strumpette? “Washingtonpost.com”, retrieved 25/6/07, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2006/07/19/BL2006071900447.html, 19 July 2006

Lee, E, 2007, The importance of PR in the new web, “The Blog Herald”, retrieved 23/4/07, http://www.blogherald.com/2007/01/19/the-importance-of-pr-in-the-new-web, 19 January 2007

Luke, T, 2006, Power and political culture, “The Handbook of new media”, Lievrouw, L and Livingstone, S, ed. Sage Publications, London

Mayfield, A, 2007, A bluffer’s guide to social media, retrieved 24/6/07, “Spannerworks”, http://www.spannerworks.com/what-we-think/our-research/a-bluffers-guide-to-social-media/

Newitz, A, 2006, Your second life is ready, retrieved 7/3/07, http://www.popsci.com/popsci/technology/7ba1af8f3812d010vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html, September 2006

Rice, R.E. and Haythornthwaite, C, 2006, Perspectives on Internet use: Access, involvement and interaction, “The Handbook of new media”, Lievrouw, L and Livingstone, S, ed. Sage Publications, London

Scoble, R, 2007, What is social media? retrieved 7/3/07, http://scobleizer.com/2007/02/16/what-is-social-media/

Spannerworks, 2007, What is social media? An e-book from Spannerworks, retrieved 7/3/07, http://www.spannerworks.com/fileadmin/uploads/eBooks/What_is_social_media_FINAL_V1.3.pdf, 22 January 2007

Stone, AR, 1991, Will the real body please stand up: boundary stories about virtual cultures, cited in Jankowski, N, 2006, Creating community with media: History, theories and scientific investigations, “The Handbook of New Media”, Lievrouw, L and Livingstone, S. ed., 2006, Sage Publications, London

Wikipedia, Social Media, retrieved 7/3/07, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media

Wikipedia, Virtual Reality, retrieved 24/6/07, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_Reality

‘You Only Live Twice’, Four Corners, television program, ABC Television, Melbourne, 19 March 2007

So this is my first ever blog….I guess I’m a bit behind the rest of the world and this feels strange – posting my thoughts for anyone to read.
Anyway…I am a PR student and studying my last ever subject this semester. Finally I will?earn that degree. (It’s taken a while!) I am already working in the industry in a way. My role is as a Communications Officer in the ITS department of a university.

This final subject is a PR internship. As I am already working full time and have two children, I have been granted some alternative assignments. This blog is part of one of them. I will share my experiences this semester as I dive head first into the world of social media.

Soon I hope to tell stories of my adventures in Second Life (as soon as I can find my way out of Orientation Island). I will be meeting a mentor somewhere in there who will guide me through some PR-type experiences. I am not sure of the details yet so remain suitably vague. I might turn up on My Space too if it’s safe to do so. Surf the You-Tube and who knows what else. Only my download limit (and dodgy modem) can stop me.

So enjoy my blogs and please feel free to comment.