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 21st century.
