Technological Transformation
Over the year, technological transformation has become a key consideration in a wide variety of disciplines including business, medicine and criminology. The focus on technology is largely due to its role as tool for facilitating effective communication and management of information. Traditionally, the design of information communication tools and platforms mainly focused on the improvement of mainstream corporate affairs. However, in the 21st century, there has been an increasing focus on the development of tools and platforms largely mean for enhancing interaction between individuals in various parts of the world. The rapid expansion of social media tools and platform has introduced a new approach in matters of communication at the individual, group and corporate levels. The article “An Updated Look on the Impacts of Social Media on Public Relations Practice” discusses the changing trend in the role of technology in influencing organizational culture and realization of strategic goals and objectives. The authors, Donald and Michelle, describe how the social media has become a major force in influencing the way an organization’s management interacts with employees, customers and other organizations.
The Social Media
By using popular tools such as Twitter, customers can express their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the product or services of a particular company. The social media allows people to express their views, concerns and suggestions with outmost freedom. By protecting the freedom of expression, social media encourages sincere views and corners from users. Donald and Michelle explain the numerous opportunities that social media provides to organizations concerned with the improvement of relations among organizations’ staff and with customers. Using the social media an organization’s management can collect information regarding the level of satisfaction among employees and customers and take appropriate corrective measures. When employees’ post negative comments about an organization for which they work in social media platforms, it is a clear indication of job dissatisfaction and low workers morale. Research shows that job dissatisfaction is the main cause of poor performance in any organization. Thus, an organization that is keen on realizing its strategic goals and objectives should incorporate information obtained from social media in its organizational transformation considerations.
Customers’ comment in social media serve as a form of evaluation of company performance considering that most of these comments are free from any coercion of malicious intents. In this regard, it is advisable for organizations to participate actively in the social media to identify potential causes of declining customer loyalty. Furthermore, due to the complexity of corporate systems in the context of customers submitting complains, the social media provides a free and highly accessible for customers to express their opinions (Solis & Breakenridge, 2009). Donald and Michelle describe the delay among organizations in embracing social media as inexpensive tool for communicating with customer as a misadvised decision. Most of the social media platforms support a variety of functions such as chatting, which allows real-time communication between parties. Experts consider a communication process in which feedback is instant as the most efficient and satisfactory to concerned parties. Donald and Michelle view the social media as an untapped resource that offers organizations an opportunity to boost sales and improve customer loyalty.
The Wide Scope of Client Available
Another factor that requires organizations’ attention on the social media is the wide scope of client available. Unlike the traditional media, which overtime has proved ineffective in capturing the interests of the youth, the greatest percentage of social media users are the youth. In this regard, organizations have a new channel of relying information on products and services designed for the younger generation. Therefore, any organization interested in expanding its market share must engage in social media. Furthermore, social media sites operate on a 24hr basis. This means news on a company’s products or services should first reach the social media, which is always abuzz with potential customers.
Donald and Michelle based their results on data obtained from various correspondents including company representatives, groups and individual users of the social media. They have adopted an approach on data analysis that incorporates results from consecutive years. The research on impacts of social media on public relations considers a wide variety of factors whose interplay influences the scope and outcomes of public relations management. Incorporating a large sample size ensures that the research captures the views social media users in different categories (Wright & Hinson, 2009). To ensure consistency in the results, Donald and Michelle use similar tools for gathering information, with only the inclusion of modifications that are crucial to the attainment of refined and more accurate results. The evaluation of social media is extensive and incorporates aspects such as level of reliability and truthfulness in dissemination of information. Donald and Michelle use date obtained from surveys regarding confidence in the traditional media to benchmark the performance of social media. The author illustrated that research relating to Public Relations requires a broader scope of evaluation in order to incorporate both the internal and external factors that influence organizations. A consideration of external factor provides organizations with information that may be unavailable through the traditional channels of organization-customer relationship. On the other hand, internal factors help in the evaluation of aspects such as workers’ morale and job satisfaction, which are major forces in matters of customer satisfaction. A PR research engaging participants from different organizations and regions provides factual data concerning issues affecting public relations throughout various domains. To minimize errors in data collection and formulation, consideration of previous data and sample sizes is important.
