Public Relations and the Power of the Web
Using the World Wide Web in Public Relations
By Tiffany Engleman
Some might say the growth of the World Wide Web can be attributed to browsers such as Internet Explorer and Google. Both browsers have made information rapidly accessible to billions of people across the globe. Not only do people have a vast array of information to discover on the web, the web is also extremely attractive to public relations professionals because of the ease of distributing messages to a wide variety of audiences. Public relations professionals can easily exploit the power of the web to their advantage, especially when communicating with target audiences. There are several appealing features the web possesses to public relations personnel.
- Interactivity: One of the best features of the web is the interactivity that it provides for viewers. Viewers have the ability to question products and services, download useful information, and provide feedback to organizations.
- Updates: Information can be updated swiftly, without the hassle of reprinting materials such as brochures. This feature could come in handy, especially in a crisis situation.
- Space: Space for information is infinite on the web. An organization can post as much material as necessary to communicate effectively with an audience.
- 24/7: Anyone can access the materials posted by public relations professionals virtually anytime they need, which is an incredible advantage of this resource.
Although these are just four of the advantages that the Web offers for everyone, especially people working in the field of public relations. The growth of the World Wide Web offers astounding resources for public relations professionals. The Web makes communicating with target audiences an extremely easy task and the PR industry can easily benefit from this resource to extend their organizations reach to a variety of people on a much broader scale.
Source: Wilcox, Dennis L., Cameron, Glen T., Reber, Bryan H., & Shin, Jae-Hwa. (2011). Think Public Relations. Boston, Massachusetts: Pearson Education.
