In this week’s installment of “PR Advisers,” PR News asked three industry experts one question: What do you foresee as being the next frontier of social media, and how
do you think it will change the way in which PR and communications professionals engage media/execute media relations campaigns? These are their insights and perspectives on what is to come in media relations.
 |
| Steve Rubel |
â–¶ Steve Rubel, Senior Vice President/Director of Insights, Edelman Digital: The next phase for social media is that all things social are now media and all media is now social.
Once, you could liken these things to elephants and zebras—two distinct species. But now, the elephants and zebras have mated. We have fat zebras running around and black-and-white elephants. The same is true when it comes to media.
We’re just as likely today to be influenced by content by our friends and peers as we are the press. What’s more, the media has joined the conversation on places like Twitter so the lines are completely blurred. There is no more social media. It’s all media—and it’s now social.
What this means for PR is that we need to take a holistic view of the media, rethink how we measure it and increasingly participate transparently in order to build connections.
â–¶ Steve Cody, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Peppercom: I believe the next big thing in social media will be a pure cataclysm. I’m not talking about a new type of video or some variation on Twitter (which I still see as being of questionable value). And, I’m not talking about “NextGen” blogging or podcasting, either.
 |
| Steve Cody |
Instead, I’m envisioning the Apples, IBMs, Googles and Microsofts of the world supplanting mainstream media as our leading source of news, information and entertainment.
An entirely new generation of consumers is growing up with Jon Stewart, The Onion, Bill O’Reilly and Stephen Colbert as their sole sources of information. As media properties continue to implode financially, I believe we’ll see the best and brightest journalists lured away by companies who will create their own branded social media offerings.
In short, the mega technology brands will become primary news destinations, but not necessarily “destinations” in the traditional sense. News will become increasingly spreadable media, disseminated by the readers, viewers and listeners faster than a traditional network could ever get a “special report” together. In other words, news “networks” may (and already are) increasingly looking more like networks in the social sense of the word.
The once-sacrosanct divide between church and state in journalism has already been blown to smithereens by in-your-face product placement, citizen journalism and other developments. It’s not too much of a stretch to imagine Microsoft, Google or Apple becoming the top competitors of USA Today, the CBS Evening News and Fox.
What does it all mean for PR practitioners? We need to remain ever vigilant to the what, when, where, why and how consumers will want to engage in dialogue in the days, months and years to come.
 |
| Ronn Torossian |
â–¶ Ronn Torossian, Founder and CEO, 5WPR: Social media has forever changed the world, and the business of public relations. In today’s world of citizen journalism, everyone must be über-aware of their surroundings, and every single person can have their own “media” entity.
We realize the value of public relations professionals creating their own media outlets for media relations, and we are also aware that traditional media outlets have now become that much more difficult to pitch.
Facebook and Twitter are just the beginning of what social media will look like, and the future is exciting. PR agencies have the ability to shape social media communications. PRN
[Editor’s Note: If you have a question that you would like to have answered in an upcoming installment of “PR Advisers,” e-mail Courtney Barnes at [email protected].]
CONTACTS:
Steve Rubel, [email protected]; Steve Cody, [email protected]; Ronn Torossian, [email protected]