A New Tool in the Box, by Ellyn Angelotti on Poynter Online encouraged me to update my post Have you Friended a Journalist Today?
The Poynter post discusses social networks from the journalist’s perspective, describing the technology as a tool that can help journalists make connections and develop sources and info for their articles.
Looking at it from a PR-centric view, social networks give PR people another way to engage media – that is obvious. The less obvious part gets to the question that many in our field find uncomfortable: what is the proper role of PR in a world of increasingly unmediated media?
Social networks and social media give us ways to listen to and directly connect with people of all types – traditional reporters, sure, but also bloggers, new and traditional influencers, and the public at large.
Ellyn’s post outlined the need to proceed with caution and make every effort to ensure journalistic integrity. Similarly, I think that the PR profession needs rules of engagement that help us maintain our professionalism while we use technologies like social networking to further the goals of our clients and employers.
These could include not using fake names, not gratuitously friending people, journalists, whomever – not spamming people. These are things we avoid anyway, however as we get into the online world there are some nuances and perhaps more chances to get into murky ethical water.
for example one area that I think has tons of potential for PR, but is also fraught with peril, is the social graph (WhatIs definition).
Dion Hinchcliffe had a great post on social graphs back in January. As the phrase implies, social graphs illustrate how people are connected in networks.
As I said in my Fusion Forum post, I am starting to realize that everyone who blogs or comments on blogs,
everyone who participates in online social networks – we are the media.
Advertisers will increasingly target us and try to tap into the trust
and influence that results from the relationships we establish and the
online reputations we build.
Hence, our definition of the word “influencer” will change . If you represent a client or employer in the field of Mobile Web 2.0, for example, perhaps you will find that it is no longer just the name brand analyst firms who are important to build relationships with. Perhaps it is a mobile Web 2.0 blogger like Ajit Jaokar. Or a consultant in the field who is doing groundbreaking work and also happens to have 1500 followers on Twitter, or 1000 Facebook friends / associates.
Marketers of all stripes are looking at tapping into so-called trust networks. As the operators of social networks and advertisers struggle to find the right model, it is also important for PR to get this right as well.
