Is information a ‘public good’ in public relations?

This week I am looking at the Creative Commons, Internet law and issues including copyright and IP. The main focus of this post is to answer the following question…

How is information a ‘public good’ in your profession?

So, what is a public good?

There are two components to a public good;

1. It must be non-rivalrous – the consumption or use of the good by one individual cannot reduce the ability of another individual to use or consume the good

2. It must be non-excludable - it is not possible to stop anyone from consuming it

“It can be seen that public goods tend to be intangible items, that is, things which are difficult to grasp with the hands, and that many of them fall into the category of information or knowledge”

Source: The Linux Information Project

In terms of the public relations profession, information is undoubtedly a public good!

The purpose of public relations is to form mutually beneficial relationships between an organisation and its publics. This is primarily achieved through two-way communication. Evidently, communication is information. However, intellectual property (IP) and copyright are two factors that must be considered when distributing information.

What is intellectual property?

According to Flew there are two visions of intellectual property – information as a public resource and information as a private resource (2008, p227)

Information as a public resource

1. Free speech and free circulation of ideas and information

2. Draws primarily upon existing materials (not new)

3. Information and efficiency

4. Inequitable access to information in society

Information as a private resource

1. Individual property rights and rights of personal privacy

2. Individual creativity and originality

3. Innovation and incentives

4. Denial of individual rights and creativity

(Flew, 2008)

What is copyright?

Copyright law recognises that original work can belong to individuals. The law also states that there should be compensation (usually monetary) for the original owner of the work if the work is used by others.

According to Flew, facts, concepts and ideas are not outright copyrightable because they cannot be owned by an individual. However, copyright seeks to protect creative works such as books, paintings and music lyrics. It is important to realise that the orignal author/creator does have ownership of the ‘creative expression’ but not once the work has been distributed in physical form.

Lastly, Flew acknowledges that some information is exempt from copyright law when it is in the best interest of the public to have this information readily and easily available and accessible (2008, p227).

So, of course information is a public good in the public relations profession.

There are a number of reasons why information is a public good in public relations;

1.The purpose of public relations is to inform and educate publics, using information to communicate. Public relations is concerned with making information public. Our aim is to provide information as a public good so that it can be consumed, shared or even retweeted. Therefore, information is a public good.

2. Public relations practitioners use websites, media releases, feature articles, brochures, social networks (blogs, Twitter, Facebook), campaigns and many other forms of communication to inform and influence publics. All of these forms of communication are non-excludable and non-rivalrous. All of these forms of communication are common public relations practices.

3. Public relations practitioners use the mass media (public good) to disseminate messages, including newspapers, television programs and magazines.

Public relations information is a public good because it is non-excludable and non-rivalrous.

Want more?

This is a very interesting video from Michael from Ogilvy PR in China about the 360 degrees digital influence… Is this YouTube video a public good? I think so, it’s user-generated content.

This is the latest ‘statistics’ clip…very interesting

What the Public Believes: New Trends in Corporate Reputation Management.

Read: The Public Domain: Enclosing the commons of the mind

My resources

Public Goods: A Brief Introduction (2006). The Linux Information Project.

Flew, T. (2008). New Media An Introduction (3rd. Ed.) Melbourne: Oxford Press. Davis, P. (2009).

Information as Property. The Scholarly Kitchen. Society for Scholarly Publishing.

Participatory culture & interactivity

The topic that I have chosen to examine  is participatory culture and interactivity.

I will do this by answering the following question,

In what ways has the growth of participatory culture and interactivity changed your profession in recent years?

According to Flew, participation allows anyone to use ICTS to participate as a user, consumer, worker or citizen (2008).

In a white paper by Clinton, Purushotma, Robison, Weigel and Jenkins defined participatory culture as one…

1. With relatively low barriers to artistic expression and civic engagement

2. With strong support for creating and sharing one’s creations with others

3. With some type of informal mentorship whereby what is known by the most experienced is passed along to novices

4.Where members believe that their contributions matter

5.Where members feel some degree of social connection with one another (at the least they care what other people think about what they have created).

After considering these five definitions, the notion of participatory culture became quite clear to me. It’s all about sharing  & caring, and with the help of globalisation and convergence, it’s embedded into our ‘technoculutre’.

Evidently, the terms interactivity and participatory culture are very closely related, but they are not the same.  According to Flew, interactivity is the most important attribute of new media. The two main concepts of interactivity are interconnectivity and interoperability. Interconnectivity is the ability to connect across difference networks. Interoperability is the ability to access a range of information and media using different operating systems (2008). The three main attributes of interactivity are;

User-to-user interaction

Para-social interaction

User-to-system interactivity

(Flew, 2008)

Here’s another interesting interview with Jenkins (he’s becoming a regular on this blog!)

Now that the technicalities are out of the way, let’s relate this to the creative industries and more specifically, to public relations.

Participatory culture and interactivity have changed the public relations professional in recent years.

Two-way communication:

New media facilitates the conversation between public relations practitioners and publics. Public relations is based on building relationships and communicating effectively and participatory culture allows for instant feedback (good or bad) which facilitates two-way communication. Public relations professionals now have to respond very quickly when an unhappy or disgruntled individuals voice his/her opinion online through social network platforms like blogs, Facebook and Twitter or online news sites. Public relations practitioners cannot ignore user-generated content, they must facilitate two-way communication to maintain relationships.

Social media allows public relations professionals to communicate more effectively and efficiently. In recent years public relations professionals have had to quickly and effectively adapt to the latest social media trends. The internet is a fantastic platform for voicing personal opinion about a brand, organisation or news story, to millions of people. Blogs, Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites like Digg, allow individuals to produce and share opinions.

In 2006, Twitter was born. This “information network” soon became a popular way to communicate among professionals, celebrities, organisations and individuals. For public relations practitioners, getting a message out in a sentence may prove to be difficult. One of the biggest challenges is fitting a message into only 140 characters. However, public relations professionals have mastered this tool with honest messages that are customised. Most importantly, public relations professionals are participating in the conversation. Additionally, public relations practitioners can track the need of journalists through Twitter, which can prove to be extremely beneficial.

In recent years social media has allowed public relations practitioners to better prepare for a crisis through monitoring online content and responding to individuals concerns in a timely manner.  As one of my lecturers says, “a crisis ignored, is a crisis ensured”. Public relations professionals are using social media to understand publics and to reach specific groups of publics.

For example, Kmart recently applied to open its stories on ANZAC day because it believed that by closing customers would be inconvenienced. Kmart soon changed its stance and avoided a potential crisis through monitoring public opinion online and actually valuing these views. More than 400 people voiced their opinion here… So my point is, participators can influence decisions. Public relations practitioners can avoid a crisis.

This is a really interesting lecture with Evan Williams, CEO and co-founder of Twitter. Grab a cup of coffee… it’s long, but worth it.

But, with so many social networks and platforms for users to produce and distribute content, how can public relations practitioners keep a ‘finger on the pulse’?

Google Alerts is a free service provided by Google that can prove to be helpful in avoiding a potential crisis. Public relations practitioners can benefit from this service by using it to…

1. Monitor public opinion

2. Monitor message dissemination

3. Research competition or potential clients

How do you use it?

1. Simply enter your keyword (organisation or topic) into the search terms

2. Choose the type, how often and email length that suits you

3. Enter your email address

4. Click “create alert”

You can activate and deactivate your alert through your email. It’s simple!

Message dissemination:

With the emergence of participatory culture, public relations has made a fundamental change to online message dissemination. Seeking Media allows public relations professionals to write, edit and send media releases online. So what are the benefits of online media releases?

1. Allow for even faster publication and message dissemination

2. Increase brand awareness through Google rankings

3. Direct distribution to journalists and consumers

Public relations practitioners have now started customising messages to suit specific new media platforms. For example, viral campaigns on YouTube have become increasingly popular in recent years. The “Are you my man in the jacket?” campaign by Witchery is one example of a recent viral campaigns that received a considerable amount of air time across Australia and overseas.

Are you my man in the jacket? received more than 200,000 hits on YouTube.

Citizen journalism:

With the emergence of blogs, twitter and devices such as the iPhone, people are constantly telling their own stories, breaking stories and sharing stories with the world.

The way in which stories are being told has forced public relations practitioners to customise and personalise their messages even more. In addition, users/participators are becoming more trusting of other participators. I know that when I am looking for a restaurant, I value and trust the opinions of people who have recommended it or blogged about it or tweeted about it. Instead of advertorial. Public relations practitioners must participate, otherwise their messages will be ignored and their credibility will suffer.

Are you a citizen journalist?

Want more?

Here’s a short explanation of citizen journalism…

Here’s an article about Linkedin and its plan to open offices in Sydney. Linkedin is a popular social network for professionals and it is quite popular in Australia.

In conclusion, participatory culture and interactivty has changed the way that public relations practitioners work on a daily basis. It is important for public relations practitioners to participate and interact with key publics to ensure the credibility of their organsiation and client.

Flew, T. (2008). New Media An Introduction (3rd. Ed.) Melbourne: Oxford Press.

Jenkins, H. Confronting the challenges of participatory culture: Media education for the 21^st century.