In Deirdre Breakenridge's article PR 2.0, Brian Cross discusses how changes in technology will change the function of PR practitioners. In what ways do you think public relations will change and what role will PR professional's play in these changes?
Public relations will change in a number of ways because of technology changes. The first major change is that companies or brands will be able to have conversations directly with the consumers. As technology advances, users are able to share an incredible amount of information. Consumer behaviour will also evolve as they are now able to decide what information they want to intake, allowing them to organize and share information to make better consumer choices. In turn, the consumer wants more from their brands as they desire direct communication to hear about new products and services while also being able to give feedback. PR professionals will play a huge role in this change as they will now be invited to participate in dialogue in places they were not invited before. It also allows companies to eliminate the ‘middle man’ and rely more so in internal pieces of the company to communicate with the consumer. The role of communicator then become more significant for those in PR as they are now expected to engage in the new wave of dialogue and information sharing while representing themselves and their brand(s). A final impact is on the way PR professionals must go about their business. PR was a lot about developing relationships and contacts more directly (face to face) where as now these relationships are much more accessible on the web and almost less personal than before.
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