Institute for Public Relations

The Institute of Public Relations awarded this paper a “Top 3 Competition Paper of Practical Significance” at the 16th International PR Research Conference (2013). This research-in-progress seeks to uncover a deeper understanding of how influence works online, and how we might measure influence beyond the outputs and outtakes. In this literature review, several salient themes emerge: Influence explained via social impact and opinion leadership Mixed results on both accounts Influence applied by a group on its individual members By and large, literature supports this principle Social identification with the group leads to being influenced by its members Influence as a consequence of position in a social network Two ...

Editing the Wikipedia articles for your company or clients can be a time consuming and difficult process. This is because public relations/communications professionals are not to directly edit Wikipedia when they have a conflict of interest such as working for the company that needs the changes. This article highlights the 11 current problems with the process and provides necessary steps to improve it. Guidance for public relations/communications professionals is also provided.

February 2010 – For some time, communications teams have been measuring PR ROI through outputs, such as media coverage volume, coverage sentiment, and share of voice, rather than business outcomes. With the relatively recent developments in web analytics, organizations are now able to directly measure how prospects and customers find information that lead them to a brand’s web site or other digital assets -whether through search, paid media or earned media. As a result, it is becoming possible for organizations to identify which types of channel drive the most value across all media, not only paid media. This paper focuses ...

April 2007 – Most PR people envision the blogosphere as yet another new medium to address, a new way to scream more loudly at their stakeholders. In fact, PR people need to completely rethink their approach from pitching to engaging in “Naked Conversations.” People now have access to so much content, and have so many ways to gather news and information, that the likelihood of your corporate message penetrating through the clutter is virtually nil. Instead, if you engage the audience in a conversation and learn what the social community is looking for, ...

2004 – There is a growing trend toward people using the Internet to get their news and to investigate particular issues and organizations.  After reading this paper you will be able to evaluate the offerings of the various commercial services that have begun providing data on Internet audiences. You will understand the jargon and how Internet measurement terms relate to the traditional media measurement terms that you probably already know. Armed with this knowledge, you will be able to make a first cut at determining which sites to monitor and analyze.

This study examined corporate communications policy concerning the Internet and interactive media through a mail questionnaire survey of 236 of the nation’s most senior-level public relations and corporate communications officers.

Is this the death of the grapevine? This paper examines changes in employee communication due to interactive technologies that allow employees to take control of both media and message selection. The author has conducted a decade-long trend study based on interviews with plant employees of a large, international manufacturing company. Internal email and the company’s internet and intranet websites have now become the most frequently used as well as the most credible source of company information, beating out print publications, bulletins, union information, and the local news media. Even rumors and the grapevine ...

While the credibility of corporate blogs – whether sanctioned by the company or written by others – is growing, executives at top companies have been slow to come to grips with their importance in building a dialogue with customers and other stakeholders, including critics, according to the Makovsky 2006 State of Corporate Blogging Survey, conducted in February and released in May 2006. The study – a national telephone survey of 150 senior executives (directors and above) of a cross-section of Fortune 1000 companies – was commissioned by Makovsky + Company, and conducted ...

Using their previous research as a foundation for their newest study, Wright and Hinson examine the continuing impact social media are having on public relations practice. They find these new technologies are dramatically changing public relations and the way it is practiced. Results of this year’s research show considerably more agreement in some areas than was the case in previous years. Findings show that traditional news media receive higher scores than blogs and social media in terms of accuracy, credibility, telling the truth and being ethical.

The present research integrates core aspects of anger activism theory (AAM) with the theory of planned behavior to investigate factors influencing online activism in a Web site. The findings of online survey of the members of an activism Web site suggest that adding emotion in Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) enhances the explanatory power of the theory.