New media power

New media has provide the opportunities for public relations practitioners to collect any information needed, give the chance for them to monitor public opinion on certain issue and has the benefit to communicate and give feedback with their publics about a variety of issues.

New media is becoming the preferred term for a range of media practices that employ digital technologies and the computer in some way or another (Dewdney & Ride, 2006). New media has made the life easier where anyone can reach to each other in a short time. New media has become the preferred choice to communicate because it is cheap, can be done anywhere as long as one has an internet connection and can obtain the feedback from the source.

Example of new media are RSS feeds that allow favourite news and information updates to be delivered to the costumer as soon as they are posted online without consumers having to search for the content, email, text messaging, instant messaging, chat online, online forums blogging and etc.  

Public relations practitioners have to face the challenge to publish correct information online because people can read what they produce. They need to give correct and truthful information in order to maintain their good image in the eye of their stakeholders. They must be reliable in providing information and if they not, people will not believe in their organization anymore. 

Public relations practitioners must understand that they need to analyze how the new technologies can give the impact in helping their roles in giving the information to the public, disseminate the idea or opinion, develop a good media relations, manage their reputation, have a good stakeholders relations, marketing communications, sustain the relationship with the investor and must always be prepared for issues and crisis management. Hence, the new media has helped the public relations practitioners to work in effective and efficient condition.

Reviewed by: Nur Maisyarah Binti Che Mansor (2009116141)

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