From "Social Responsibility" to "Social Media": Societal Culture and Israeli Public Relations Practi

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• From "Social Responsibility" to "Social Media"
  Societal Culture and Israeli Public Relations
  Practice
• Ruth Avidar
• The Center for the Study of the Information
  Society, University of Haifa, Israel.

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• Social integration

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• Most Israelis preferred the model of "social
  responsibility of the press" over " freedom of
  the press" (Toledano McKie,2007)
• "propaganda of integration" emphasized positive,
  unifying messages that created consensus

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• 1970-1990 A change
• The media became more competitive and diverse,
  journalists did not see themselves as responsible
  for the unity of the people
• Public relations practice becamemore
  professional.

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• The Internet, Co-creational approach, Web 2.0 and
  social media
• Diversity, individuality and freedom of
  expression.

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• Research Questions
• RQ1 Do Israeli public relations practitioners
  use online social media elements?
• RQ2 How do Israeli public relations
  practitioners perceive online social media
  elements?
• RQ3 How do Israeli public relations
  practitioners see the future of social media?

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• Method
• A web-based survey of
• Israeli public relations
• practitioners (September 2008)
• 45 practitioners (out of 284) completed and
  returned an online questionnaire (approximately
  10 of the 400 existing Israeli public relations
  firms).

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• The survey was based on the studies of Gillin
  (2008) and Wright and Hinson (2008), which
  explored the impact of social media on public
  relations practice.

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• Findings
• Most practitioners had experience with or started
  to familiarize themselves with social media
  elements

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• 78 used at least one social media element in at
  least one campaign 56 used blogs , 53 social
  networks, 49 forums

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• 80 had at least one personal experience (for
  any purpose) with blogs, 69 with social networks
  and 67 with forums

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• 73 read blogs that were relevant to their
  clients
• 44 wrote or had written a blog in the name of
  their organizations or clients

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• 95 tracked online mentions of their clients on
  the Internet
• 59 responded to online opinions or criticism
  regarding their organizations or clients

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• Nevertheless-
• The usage of social media elements was still in
  its initial stage and its potential had not yet
  been utilized

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• 68 answered that their clients seldom (36 per
  cent) or never (32 per cent) wanted them to use
  social media elements!

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• 56 answered negatively to the question whether
  social media have changed the way their
  organizations or their clients' organizations
  communicated (Wright and Hinson,2008 61
  answered positively)

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• 51.5 were not of the opinion that social
  media were more accurate than traditional
  media.
• 49 did not believe that social media were more
  credible than traditional media or presented a
  more trusted information source.

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• Nearly half the Israeli practitioners (46)
  thought that social media did not tell the truth!
  

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• The Future of Social Media

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• 60 stated that they would "probably" use some
  kind of social media elements in a media campaign
  during the coming year
• 73 would "very" or "very much" like to "deepen
  their knowledge regarding social media usage
• 51 believed that social media usage for public
  relations purposes will become more dominant in
  the future than traditional media usage

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• Conclusions
• Most practitioners hadexperience with or started
  tofamiliarize themselves withsocial media
  elements
• The usage of social media elements was still in
  its initial stage and its potential had not yet
  been utilized.
• A duality in perceptions understood the
  potential, but were suspicious.

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• A lack of experience with social media elements
  or perhaps the societal culture in which the
  profession evolved made the practitioners
  suspicious still.
• Nevertheless, the majoritythought that it
  wasimportant tobecome more familiarwith social
  media and tounderstand their usage.

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• What all these tell us?
• Some societies are latter adopters of innovations
  than others
• The potential and willingness to experience exist

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• Future Research
• Social media usage in "peripheral" countries
• Social media usage in various organizational
  settings (in progress)

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