Results of a year-long investigation reveal ten fundamental issues facing communication professionals using the technologies of the information superhighway.

To public relations professionals, the Web is both a powerful tool of communication as well as a dangerous threat to organizational well being. Properly used, the Web represents the ultimate communication tool for building relationships between and organization and its publics, both internal and external. The Web can deliver messages incorporating all modalities of human communication, whether text, audio, graphics, still pictures, animation or full-motion video. It can even deliver immersive virtual reality environments where organizations can demonstrate products or services, tours of offices and other facilities, or educational environments. More importantly, the Web offers interactivity and customization of information never before available to a large-scale audience or public.

In the context of Prof. James Grunig's situational model of publics (non, latent, aware and active), the Web offers a communication tool that can deliver in real-time interactive, individualized messages to any type of public, but is especially well-designed to communicate with active publics.

Conversely, the Web empowers the individual to create his or her own communication platforms. The Web enables anyone to own a digital press. This may ultimately be good for democracy, but along the way it presents significant challenges to organizations trying to manage the communication function in the age of the information superhighway.