Is Social Media a Waste of Time?

This is a big question for all the social-media-ites and PR people out there. How do you determine if such a new and always changing media platform is a waste of time? I think that the Achilles heel of social media in PR is the rift in “old PR” and the “new PR”.

Just starting out in the PR world and studying it in my program I’ve come to some personal conclusions, but please feel free to comment accordingly!

I think that there is a huge divide between “traditional” PR and the new social media because whether we admit to it or not, we’re in a massive technological changeover. Online platforms are taking over our traditional mediums and as a result instead of submitting “letters to the editor” to express opinions, people are turning to social media. This instant access, instant production online landscape allows people to share their ideas and opinions on a global, billion person scale. So naturally, PR wants to tap into that.

I think that the majority of PR in social media is comparable to a fly around your head during a picnic. You’re seemingly enjoying your meal, maybe chatting with people, and then this fly keeps buzzing around and you keep swatting it away. I believe that this is because right now PR doesn’t have a set “place” in social media. There have been a few fantastic campaigns that have gone viral, but for the most part those are flukes. People are in this transitional time where PR still means “traditional” PR and social media just slowly starting to move into my direct professional canals.

I think a great example of this is Facebook, knowing full well that the Facebook’s deceased horse has been thoroughly kicked. People are now starting to realize the implications of social media on their professional lives (and then there are those who don’t, but you know, you can’t get everyone.) People who post about their bosses, promote discriminatory content and just basically act like the normally wouldn’t are realizing that they there are real-life repercussions for online actions. People are conscious of what image they have on Facebook with people going as far as having a professional Facebook account and a personal account.

Twitter is a large one as well. Widely thought of as this platform that is used for tweens to post about what they’re having for breakfast, what they’re thinking and liveblogging to-the-second mundane things in your life, Twitter is getting a facelift. It’s becoming sometimes a first go to place for updates on disasters and crisis. Communications professionals are tailoring their Twitter accounts to put themselves above the average “Tweeter” while still posting 140 character content that’s attention grabbing. The birth of Twitter as a quick PR link to social media and not just for your average Joe Shmo just shows the extent that we’re really adapting to media change.

I think, in short, we’re not going to be able to lay concrete plans for the future of PR other than a need to communicate. It’s the same way that we can’t tell if the web will be consumed by an international crisis or movement or a video of a cat riding a turtle. It’s the different waves of change and we can just cling on and adapt accordingly.

Information used from the Forbes article:

Is Social Media a Waste of Time?
- Robert Wynne

http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwynne/2012/07/02/is-social-media-a-waste-of-time/