University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

Your public is online: public relations in an online world

(USC Thesis Other)

Your public is online: public relations in an online world

PDF

Download a page range

Download transcript

Copy asset link

Request this asset

Transcript (if available)

Content YOUR PUBLIC IS ONLINE: PUBLIC RELATIONS IN AN ONLINE WORLD

by

Ann Maureen Murray

A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
MASTER OF ARTS
(STRATEGIC PUBLIC RELATIONS)

May 2009

Copyright 2009 Ann Murray

Online Public Relations ii
ii
Dedication

To Carmen Luz and Zuen Murray, for their unwavering support and love.

To Andrea and Sue Murray for putting up with their annoying older sister.

To Steve Tushar for his support, love and for helping me with my
procrastination.
Online Public Relations iii
iii

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Jennifer Floto, Larry Pryor, Dana Chinn and Gail Light for
their assistance and support.
Online Public Relations iv
iv
Table of Contents

Dedication ii

Acknowledgements iii

Abstract v

Introduction 1
Media and the Online Shift 3
Public Relations and the Online Shift 6

Chapter 1: Defining the Online Sphere 9
Social Networking Sites 9
Blogs 11
Personal Blogs 12
Media/Journalism Blogs 12

Chapter 2: Blogs, Social Network Sites & Word of Mouth 15
The Online Tipping Point 15
Early Adopters 17
Social Networks & The Tipping Point 18
Blogging & The Tipping Point 19
The Online Long Tail 22

Chapter 3: The Practice of Online Public Relations 23
Outreach To Personal Blogs and SNS Profiles 23
Outreach to Media/Journalist Blogs 27
Blog Placements 31

Chapter 4: Special Topic—Entertainment/Gossip Blogs 32

Discussion 41

Glossary 42

References 45

Appendix A 52
Appendix B 53
Appendix C 54
Appendix D 55
Appendix E 56
Online Public Relations v
v
Abstract

The media environment is transitioning into a landscape where both online and
traditional news and entertainment publications are equally important. Social
networking sites and blogs are becoming increasingly salient in the pop culture
environment and several new modes of online entertainment news
dissemination are becoming mainstream. As a result, public relations
practitioners must understand and learn to navigate this new environment to
maximize strategic campaigns, to deal with crisis situations and to stay relevant
and competent in the field. This paper seeks to guide the practitioner through
the basics of blogging and social networking and to formulate a reference guide
that practitioners can use to successfully undertake online public relations
campaign.
Online Public Relations 1
1
Introduction

There is a powerful shift currently taking place in the United States, one
that is taking media, pop culture and the public consciousness into the online
sphere. Blogs, peer-to-peer, social networking, video sharing sites and the like
are changing the way we gather news, seek out entertainment activities, conduct
research and make purchasing decisions. Individuals of all ages are consuming
differently and allowing information gathered online to influence their consuming
behaviors.
Individuals of all ages are participating in the online environment, but
teens and young adults are particularly turning to online social networks (Lenhart
and Madden, 2005; Lenhart, Rainie et al., 2007; Lenhart, Horrigan et al., 2004;
Lenhart and Hitlin, 2005; comScore, 2006). Young people are utilizing social
networking sites and instant messaging to communicate with their friends, using
sites like YouTube and iTunes to consume or create music and entertainment
(Reuters, 2006), and peer-based sites like Wikipedia for research.
This shift will be particularly salient in the long-term when this generation,
dubbed Generation Y or Generation Net (Twenge, 2007), will come of age and
demand instant messaging capabilities and perhaps even social networks at the
workplace. The workplace may have to quickly make that shift as well (Twenge,
2007), as well as the structure of business organizations. There will even come a
time when the American President will have had a profile since his/her early teen
years.
Online Public Relations 2
2
Adults 25 and older are already accustomed to going online for business
reasons. Over the past decade, they have been utilizing the Internet and e-mail
to undertake work tasks, do research, and pay their bills, but investigators are
now finding that they are increasingly utilizing MySpace and Facebook to
communicate with friends and associates. For example, comScore found that
MySpace and Facebook users ages are increasingly skewing to the young adult
range, with approximately 70 percent of users being over the age of 25
(comScore, 2006). Adults are also increasingly turning to blogs for their daily
dose of news and entertainment (Rainie, 2006), with a 56 percent increase in
blog readership between 2006 and 2007 and the total number of blog audiences
at 58.7 million visitors (34 percent of Internet readers). Online news readership
also increased from 9 to 13 percent of the general American population.
Other studies have shown that one out of three individuals surveyed
watched television online at destinations like ABC.com, AOL, Yahoo TV, Vimeo,
iTunes, Comcast’s recent Fancast and Hulu. The latter two specialize in
providing on-demand television and film content.
Just as with the younger generation, adults are also creating peer content,
as evidenced by the mass proliferation and mainstreaming of personal blogs
(Rainie, 2006; Goodwin, 2006; Baoill, 2004; boyd, 2004; boyd, 2006; boyd, 2007;
Flew, 2007; Rosenbloom, 2004). Major companies are also experimenting with
peer production by collaborating with individuals and firms around the world,
sharing creations, encouraging consumers to actively participate in development
Online Public Relations 3
3
and thus creating new “corporate meritocracies” within their offices (Tapscott and
Williams, 2007).
As a result of this proliferation of blogs, social networking sites, peering
networks and the like, Time magazine named “You” as the person of the year in
2006 (Grossman, 2006).
Car companies are running open design contests. Reuters is carrying blog
postings alongside its regular news feed. Microsoft is working overtime
to fend off user-created Linux. We're looking at an explosion of
productivity and innovation, and it's just getting started, as millions
of minds that would otherwise have drowned in obscurity get backhauled
into the global intellectual economy.

Media and the Online Shift
Not surprisingly, the media landscape is also changing. Print magazines
and newspapers are facing hardships due to lower readership rates and
decreased ad revenues as evidenced in the 4 percent drop in magazine ad
pages in 2007 (vs. an 8 percent increase in visits to magazine websites). These
difficulties are hitting Tribune Co. so hard that Chairman Sam Zell called the early
portion of 2008 the worst newspaper ad slump since the Great Depression
(O’Neal, 2008). Layoffs at major media corporations numbered in the hundreds
at major newspapers, with some newsrooms seeing a 50 percent decrease in
editorial staff from a decade earlier (Kurtz, 2008; Learmonth, 2008; Phillips,
2006; Moses, 2007; Eastman, 2007). The latest round of layoffs by the Los
Angeles Times, which happened in October 2008, wiped out 10 percent of total
staff positions, as did the Gannet Co. in early December. Time Inc. laid off 600
Online Public Relations 4
4
people by the end of the same year. Business Week publisher McGraw-Hill cut
114 jobs from its flagship magazine and Newsday followed with 100 layoffs.
Tribune Co. ultimately filed for bankruptcy protection in December 2008.
Alternatively, the success of online ventures and social networking
enterprises, such as the purchase of MySpace by Rupert Murdoch, and YouTube
by Google points the current success of online social networking sites and online
news sources (Gibson, 2006; AP, 2006). Andrew Keen pessimistically points to
this shift, in his book “The Cult of the Amateur” (2007):
Gravest of all, the very traditional institutions that have helped to
foster and create our news, our music, our literature, our television
shows, and our movies are under assault as well. Newspapers and
news magazines, one of the most reliable sources of information
about the world we live in, are flailing, thanks to the proliferation of
free blogs and sites like Craigslist, that offer free classifieds,
undermining paid ad placements. In the first quarter of 2006, profits
plummeted dramatically at all the major newspaper companies—
down 69 percent at the New York Times Company, 28 percent at
the Tribune Company and 11 percent at Gannett, the nation’s
largest newspaper company.

Although a correlation between financial duress of print and the
proliferation of the blogosphere is a large leap to make, certainly these trends are
significant and both trends may be influencing one another. Audiences are
turning to Internet sites in greater numbers than ever before, but they are still
utilizing traditional forms of media in a way that could still be called mainstream.
The 2006 Annenberg-Ketchum report (Annenberg, 2006), for instance, found that
three out of four respondents still rely on television for their ultimate source of
local news information, with at least half of 18-34 year olds turning to traditional
Online Public Relations 5
5
newspapers, while 13.4 percent turned to blogs or websites for their daily news.
In a 2005 study, comScore found that only 30% of their respondents had visited
a blog.
How does the level of authority of these sites measure up to traditional
media? In the comScore study, 13.4 respondents answered that they knew and
utilized blogs. Within this group, they gave blogs a mean credibility rating of 5.2
out of a 10. However, the 69 percent of respondents who use newspapers gave
them a 7.2 credibility rating and the 73.6 percent of respondents who utilize local
TV news gave TV a 7.4.
Users seem to still view traditional outlets as more trustworthy sources.
So, in effect, it is apparent that traditional media is not dying off but rather is
transitioning into a new phase—one where both traditional outlets and online
entities are equally important. The question is, then, how fast will the transition be
to where online entities are more popular than print or TV?
This new media environment is one where both sides coexist: where
newspapers have created blogs to run alongside their print publications (Gill,
2005); where traditional media companies have entered into the blogging and
online video realms (for a historical analysis of the way newspapers entered the
Internet arena, see Pryor (2003) and Rose (2008)); and where new media
companies are forming, ones which consist solely of online entities and that
mimic traditional publishing houses (Grigoriardis, 2007).
Online Public Relations 6
6
This is also a world where bloggers are given accreditation to cover the
presidential debates alongside print media and TV, as they began to do in the
2004 primaries (boyd, 2004) and as they continued to do in 2008, with the added
benefit of allowing users to question the candidates via YouTube and visit
candidate’s pages on the social network sites MySpace and Facebook. In fact,
Barack Obama’s use of social media in his campaign was lauded by the press
and generally described as being extremely successful (Lee, 2008). His
campaign had in its possession 13 million e-mail addresses, 2 million profiles on
MyBarackObama.com and 5 million more on MySpace and Facebook (Stelter,
2008).
Famed political correspondent Helen Thomas weighed in on the topic in
her book “Watchdogs of Democracy” (2008). She said:
To say that journalism has changed is putting it mildly. The
proliferation of the Internet affects how the public receives news.
Consumers expect rapid news updates…there are generational
differences that cannot be ignored. Corporate news conglomerates,
Washington insiders and world leaders alike now give consideration
to a continuum and combination.

Public Relations and the Online Shift
So, traditional media is changing—making the transition into an
atmosphere where traditional media and online outlets coexist and, increasingly,
intersect. The public relations field is based on a media-centric model in that it
places a heavy emphasis on influencing media. Thus, if the traditional media
landscape is changing, then it follows that public relations must follow suit and
transition along with it in order to remain strategic.
Online Public Relations 7
7
How do public relations practitioners go about doing this? Traditional
public relations is based on a model that stresses controlled, deliberate methods
of communication where information flows in one direction. The message:
1) Focuses on outwardly promoting a tangible or intangible product.
2) Relies on interruption-based messaging.
3) Focuses on one-way messaging.
4) Relies heavily on journalists and traditional media.
5) Utilizes structured and pre-defined written materials, and
6) Emphasizes mainstream markets.
David Meerman Scott, in his book “The New Rules of Marketing & PR”
(2007) argues that these rules will not work in the new online-focused
environment and are, thus, in need of revamping. New strategies and tactics are
needed--ones that take into account the new way consumers are obtaining
information and trusting these sources. If this is not carried out, practitioners risk
the possibility of either not engaging audiences, losing them because of lack of
trust or legitimacy, and ultimately being left behind in their field while those skilled
in the online sphere become the most competitive in the new marketplace.
Public relations practitioners that utilize online strategies in their
campaigns should be unafraid to give up a certain degree of control while at the
same time using strategies that are just as effective. The practitioner should
focus on a campaign that builds on Scott’s model and 1) gently promotes
products or ideas by encouraging consumers to actively participate, 2) relies on
Online Public Relations 8
8
useful content when a consumer needs it, 3) encourages direct communication
between the consumer and the public relations entity, 4) includes direct contact
with the public, 5) utilizes modified versions of traditional public relations
materials; ones that make more sense for bloggers (i.e. modified press releases),
6) stresses niche markets in addition to mainstream ones, 7) develop new crisis
management policies, tools and techniques, 8) develop a systematic way of
monitoring the blogosphere, and 9) uses authentic content that fosters trust and
authority in audiences.
This paper attempts to delve deeper into these needed changes and
provide guidelines as to how this transition can be carried out by public relations
executives and publicists. Additionally it outlines and defines important constructs
of the online environment that public relations practitioners should be paying
attention to and utilizing. We begin with several important definitions and
clarifications of theoretical terminology that should be crucial to any public
relations executive launching a strategically relevant public relations campaign.
Online Public Relations 9
9
Defining the Online Sphere
Social Network Sites
Social network theory has defined social networks as a loosely formed set
of relationships between differing sets of units, or “nodes.” Each node is
connected to the next node through a “tie,” or a relationship that might be based
on emotions, friendship, kinship, finance, conflict, etc. More than one relationship
signals a multiplex relation. Social networks have historically been limited to face-
to-face interactions. Historically, social networks have included family and
surrounding neighbors. These were small and close-knit networks formulating a
network of kinships. Religious grouping, political association and professional
affiliations make up only some of our social networks clusters (Kadushin, 2004;
Backstrom, Huttenlocher and Kleinberg, 2006).
In the 21
st
century, social networks migrated online, and the Internet saw a
development of social network sites (SNS). Generally, these networks have the
following characteristics: 1) encourage individuals to formulate an online profile,
whether private or public, 2) allow users to network with other users (“friends”)
who share similar characteristics or interests, and 3) display the connections with
friends as well as friend’s connections.
The first recorded popular social network site that displayed all of these
above-mentioned characteristics was the now-defunct sixdegrees.com, created
in 1997, which allowed users to create an individual profile and fostered
connections with friend’s profiles. There had been other sites displaying some of
Online Public Relations 10
10
these characteristics (like classmates.com) as well as instant messaging
programs such as AIM and ICQ, which allowed users to connect to other users
but which did not allow profiles (boyd, 2007). For a detailed chronological history
of SNS please see boyd, 2007.
Currently the most popular SNS are MySpace, Facebook, Friendster,
Ning, Twitter and Xanga. Growth on these SNS has been explosive: between
June 2006 and June 2008, for instance, comScore noted that Facebook
increased from 14 million uniques to 60 million, whereas MySpace grew from
66.5 million uniques to over 189 million (Eldon, 2008). The more recent Twitter
reported 1 million total users, 200,000 total active users per week and 3 million
total twitter messages per day in March 2008 (Arrington, 2008)
Individuals mainly turn to social networks to maintain existing face-to-face
social networks (boyd, 2007). Although popular thought is that SNS are primarily
utilized to create new connections, such as dating relationships, it has been
shown that the emphasis on these sites is mainly to link up with existing friends,
a habit that often strengthens these connections (Hampton and Wellman, 2002;
Wellman and Gulia, 1997; boyd, 2007).
Currently, academics have found evidence that social networking sites are
being utilized to display personal presentation (boyd, 2007; Fogarty, 2003; Miller,
1995), manage reputation (Hogg and Adamic, 2004), and manage image
impression as well as follow friendship performance (boyd, 2007). Of course,
social networks also provide a way for users to keep in contact with friends and
Online Public Relations 11
11
family. (For a concise analysis of why people blog, see Nardi, Schiano et al,
2004; Nilsson, 2003; Turner, n.d; Miller, 1995; Goodin, 2003; Rosenbloom, 2004;
Baoill, 2004).
Businesses have also entered the Internet realm and are already using
MySpace to draw potential customers (Scott, 2007). Non-profits are utilizing SNS
to recruit volunteers or maintain current networks (Turner, n.d.; Pope, 2006), as
have independent entrepreneurs (Prince, 2005). Companies like Ford and
American Apparel have ventured into more complex sites like Second Life,
which incorporates traditional SNS structure with online virtual worlds.
However, it is difficult to predict whether these strategies will be profitable in the
long run, as has been pointed out by marketers and public relations practitioners
(Wheaton, 2007). A better function of social network sites and virtual worlds like
Second Life might be in branding a product or a company.
Blogs
Blogs, shorthand for weblogs, are online entities that are a collection of
posts or written articles that are chronologically in reverse order and are
systematically archived. Posts might contain text, images, video, music or a
combination of these, and most posts contain links to outside websites, other
blog posts or another online entity. Most blogs also allow readers to interact by
commenting, either anonymously or by utilizing an online identity, such as an
avatar (Nardi, Schiano and Gumbrecht, 2004).
Online Public Relations 12
12
Although academics have pointed to the difficulty in categorizing blogs, for
the purposes of this paper I will organize them into 1) personal blogs, and 2)
media blogs or journalist blogs.
Personal Blogs
Personal blogs are journal-like in nature in that posts mainly consist of
personal ruminations and thoughts about the blogger’s everyday life, often taking
a confessional nature (Nardi, Schiano and Gumbrecht, 2004). Often, a post may
focus on a product, another blog or website or a celebrity. A blog post may
include hyperlinks (or “links”) to another online entity. Marlow (2006) describes
the social aspect of hyperlinks as:
a massively distributed but completely connected conversation
covering every imaginable topic of interest. A byproduct of this
ongoing communication is the set of hyperlinks made between
weblogs in the exchange of dialog, a form of social
acknowledgement on the part of authors.

This hyperlink might be to a site which offers more information about the
product or which allows the user to purchase the product. This turns the blog into
a type of recommendation mechanism, capable of spreading information (Kerwin,
2005; Bonhard and Sasse, 2006). Kerwin in particular analyzed how bloggers
created hyperlinks. She found that bloggers utilize hyperlinks along three
differing dimensions: personal presence, social speech and public promotion.
Media and Journalism Blogs
Media or journalism blogs, on the other hand, offer an “alternative to
broadcast media models and an opportunity to extend traditional theories of
Online Public Relations 13
13
mass communication” (Kerwin, 2005). For the purpose of this paper, these types
of blogs are defined as those whose content is focused on reporting and
providing commentary on public interest topics and news.
These blogs can be further broken up into two dimensions. They can be
part of a larger traditional media entity, such as the Washington Post, The New
York Times and the Los Angeles Times (Pryor, 2003; Gill, 2005; Park, 2003), or
they can be part of an online blog publishing company, such as Gawker
Media, which owns several blogs, each covering a highly defined topic. These
include its flagship site Gawker, as well as Jalopnik (cars), Gizmodo (gadgets),
Kotaku (games), Defamer (Hollywood), Valleywag (Silicon Valley) and Jezebel
(fashion). Other blog publishing companies include Sugar Publishing (PopSugar,
FabSugar, DearSugar), and Weblogs Inc (Engadget). Solo blogs that pull in the
most traffic include Perez Hilton (entertainment), TechCrunch (technology),
Huffington Post (news and politics) and Daily Koz (politics). (For a list of top
blogs as defined by traffic and online media companies see comScore 2008.)
The importance and readership of blogs great steadily in 2008, but the
year was particularly big for political blogs, with comScore reporting that blogs
such as Huffington Post, Politico and Druge Report saw 70 to 472 percent
increases in web traffic from 2007 (comScore, 2008).
Although bloggers have been frequently compared to and defined along
the same paradigm as journalists, the importance of their contributions and the
quality of their content has been repeatedly questioned (boyd, 2006; Park, 2003;
Online Public Relations 14
14
Thomas 2008). Other authors as well as bloggers themselves, stress the cultural
significance of blogs.
The latter group defines media bloggers as the “fifth estate,” one that
provides a system of checks and balances to the “fourth estate” or the
mainstream media (or MSM in blog terminology). These authors see that certain
political events that have taken place in the past few years would not have taken
place had bloggers not entered into the equation. Some of these events include
the Trent Lott scandal, the Iraq War, the 2004 presidential election, and the
controversy involving Dan Rather reporting from fabricated sources. In all of
these instances, significant blogger coverage has forced traditional media outlets
to focus or re-examine specifics of a particular case, or they have uncovered
information that counters claims made by traditional media. Ultimately this has
led to significant and substantial consequences such as Lott’s resignation as the
U.S. Senate Republican Party Leader, and Dan Rather being fired from his
network.
It is in this manner that media blogs have become synonymous with
cultural watchdogs and are often seen as significant influencers (Rosenbloom,
2004; Park, 2003). More recently, evidence that blogging is slowly transitioning
from the fringes of media sphere and into the mainstream arena is seen in
traditional journalism awards that have been awarded to bloggers, such as the
George Polk Award of Journalism given to Joshua Micah Marshall, a current
Online Public Relations 15
15
blogger for Talking Points Memo, for reporting on the political motivations behind
the U.S. Attorney firings (Strupp, 2008).
Blogs, Social Networking Sites and Word-of-Mouth Concepts
It is due to the influential and authoritative nature of blogs and the inter-
connectedness of social networking sites that public relations professionals
should add blog and SNS-based strategies to their normal repertoire. The
significance of networks and influencers was clearly outlined in Malcolm
Gladwell’s seminal work, “The Tipping Point” (2005). The potential demographic
reach that these networks provide can be best summed up using Chris
Anderson’s “Long Tail” (2006) concepts.
The Online Tipping Point

Gladwell describes a model that explains why certain ideas, movements
or products infiltrate the social context in an explosive manner. The “tipping point”
is that point in time when the momentum forces the idea or product to become
widespread. One of Gladwell’s theorems involves what he dubs “The Law of the
Few,” which is grounded on social epidemic, and requires three types of people:
Connectors, Mavens and Salesmen.
Connectors:
What makes someone a Connector? The first—and most
obvious—criterion is that Connectors know lots of people. . . Six
degrees of freedom doesn’t mean everyone is linked to everyone
else in just six steps. It means that a very small number of people
are linked to everyone else in a few steps, and the rest of us are
linked to the world through those special few. . . . In fact, I go down
my list of forty friends, thirty of them, in one way or another, lead
back to Jacob. My social circle is, in reality, not a circle. It is a
pyramid. And at the top of the pyramid is a single person—Jacob—
Online Public Relations 16
16
who is responsible for an overwhelming majority of the relationships
that constitute my life. . . . These people who link us up with the
world, who bridge Omaha and Sharon, who introduce us to our
social circles—these people on whom we rely more heavily than we
realize—are Connectors, people with a special gift for bringing the
world together.

Mavens:
The word Maven comes from the Yiddish and it means one who
accumulates knowledge. In recent years, economists have spent a
great deal of time studying Mavens, for the obvious reason that if
marketplaces depend on information, the people with the most
information must be the most important. For example, sometimes
when a supermarket wants to increase sales of a given product,
they’ll put a promotion sticker in front of it, saying something like
“Everyday Low Price!” The price will stay the same. The product
will just be featured more prominently. When they do that,
supermarkets find that invariably the sales of the product go
through the roof, the same way they would if the product had
actually been put on sale. . .

But if we’ll buy more of something even if the price hasn’t been
lowered, then what’s to stop supermarkets from never lowering
their prices? . . . The answer is that although most of us don’t look
at prices, every retailer knows that a very small number of people
do, and if they find something amiss—a promotion that’s not really
a promotion—they’ll do something about it. If a store tried to pull
the sales stunt too often, these are the people who would figure it
out and complain to management and tell their friends and
acquaintances to avoid the store. These are the people who keep
the marketplace honest. . . One name for them is “price vigilantes.”
The other, more common, name for them is “Market Mavens.”

Salesmen:
Part of what it means to have a powerful or persuasive personality,
then, is that you can draw others into your own rhythms and dictate
the terms of the interaction. . . . I felt I was becoming synchronized
with him. . . . But the essence of the Salesmen is that, on some
level, they cannot be resisted. “Tom can build a level of trust and
rapport in five to ten minutes that most people will take a half an
hour to do,” Moine says of Gau. . . What was interesting about Gau
is the extent to which he seemed to be persuasive in a way quite
different from the content of his words. He seems to have some
kind of indefinable trait, something powerful and contagious and
Online Public Relations 17
17
irresistible that goes beyond what comes out of his mouth, that
makes people who meet him want to agree with him. It’s energy.
It’s enthusiasm. It’s charm. It’s likability. It’s all those things and
yet something more.

Early Adopters
Gladwell also touches upon Ryan and Gross’ diffusion model, which is the
way an idea or product moves through a population through the word-of-mouth
phenomenon. He describes Innovators as “adventurous ones,” or individuals who
are usually the first to try new things. The Early Adopters are next in the word-of-
mouth hierarchy. These are individuals who “were the opinion leaders in the
community, the respected, thoughtful people who watched and analyzed what
those wild innovators were doing and then followed suit.” The Early and Late
Majority, in turn, were “the deliberate and skeptical mass audience” who followed
the Early Adopters. This was the more mainstream audience. He also mentions
Geoffrey Moore’s theory that Early Adopters and the Early Majorities do not
communicate particularly well with each other, since their goals and motivations
are incompatible. The Early Adopters are the ones who purchase new
technology products before any glitches are worked out or before the price
comes down, whereas the Early Majority waits. The Early Majority, for example,
are big companies that cannot afford to take any financial risk and thus wait for
the initial hype to die down first.
Gladwell argues that if the situation is ripe, and if certain qualifications are
met in the environment, Mavens, Connectors and Salesmen then come in to the
Online Public Relations 18
18
equation to adopt the idea or product and to introduce it to the majorities. This
serves as a “tip” to the Early Majority, who follows suit. The Late Majority then
trickles in. That is how a trend is created. Ultimately the initial wave is destroyed
when too much of a majority adopts the trend, thus making the project or product
unattractive to the original discoverers. The Early Adopters then move on to the
next big thing and the tipping point cycle begins again.
Social Network Sites and The Tipping Point
Upon first examination, the connection between tipping point concepts and
bloggers and social network sites is immediately apparent. Social network sites
are the physical embodiment of the concept of Connectors: individuals (nodes in
social network analysis) linked to one another through a relationship (ties) to one
particular person. We can use the social network analysis concept of “holes” to
describe these connectors as well. Structural holes are individuals who influence
others within their social networks by bridging one or more networks that are not
directly linked. Thus, the online environment basically turns all users of the SNS
into structural holes and alternately into connectors and mavens. Here’s how it
might happen:
One Connector with a larger than normal network of significant friends
(above 150) may facilitate the dissemination of a message throughout several
different networks because of his/her widespread connections. The fact that this
person has authentic relationships with many individuals on his/her friends list
facilitates trust in his/her recommendations (Bonhard and Sasse, 2006) and thus
Online Public Relations 19
19
makes him/her an online Salesman, in essence because he/she is able to subtly
successfully convince friends to try certain new things or adopt new ideas.
There has been additional evidence of this phenomenon of kinship
influence; Katz and Lasarsfeld (1940), for example, captured evidence that
seemed to signal that traditional forms of media (TV and radio) had very little
bearing on the political attitudes of their subjects. The influence was, in fact,
strongest coming from individuals within that subject’s kinship group (Cameron,
2006).
It follows that any message that originates from this user’s profile will be
taken at face value by his friends. For instance, a bulletin regarding a new car
model that the user may send out on MySpace will be read by many of the user’s
friends, or the addition of writing on a friend’s wall, or a flyer featuring this new
car model on his/her profile on Facebook will be broadcast like a newsfeed to
everyone on his/her friend list (See Appendix D for illustration). This person’s
friends will read the bulletin or view the flyer and may become a little more
interested in the new car model.
Blogging and The Tipping Point
Bloggers have the characteristics of Connectors, Mavens and Salesmen.
The current crop of bloggers are also Early Adopters and Innovators. They are
mavens in that they actively seek out and disseminate information that other
mainstream users might not be aware of. They are Salesmen in that they can
count on a stable audience to read their blog and potentially be influenced by
Online Public Relations 20
20
their words, as they are being seen as authorities in the topics they blog about
(Marlow, 2006).
This is true of both personal and media bloggers. However, media
bloggers also can be seen as influencers and authority-figures on a larger-scale,
for they are Salesmen to traditional media outlets, since it was been shown that
journalists for traditional publications rely on blogs and online news for article
ideas. Many journalists and reporters for traditional publications read the most
influential blogs and systematically monitor the blogosphere for significant topics
that are building online momentum or forming “online spikes” (Tapscott and
Williams, 2006). Additionally, bloggers (media and personal) influence each
other, as they frequent the most popular blogs to find story ideas as well.
David Kirkpatrick (2005) offers a case study that personifies this potential,
by describing the accidental marketing campaign that focused on Shayne
McQuade’s new brand of backpack:
In late September, just after McQuade received an early sample of
the Voltaic Backpack, he asked a friend, Graham Hill-who runs a
"green design" weblog called Treehugger-if he'd mention the
product. Start up the swarm! Within a few hours of Voltaic's hitting
Treehugger, the popular CoolHunting blog mentioned McQuade's
product, which got it seen by Joel Johnson, editor of Engadget
competitor Gizmodo. Each step up in the blogging ecosystem
brought Voltaic to a broader audience. (Yes, for all its democratic
trappings, there are hierarchies of influence in the blogging world.)
In came a flurry of orders. Ironically, McQuade--who had helped
research Net Gain, a seminal book on how the Internet would
change business--was unprepared. "Overnight what was supposed
to be laying a little groundwork became my launch," he says. "This
is the ultimate word-of-mouth marketing channel."
Online Public Relations 21
21

The journalists I spoke to, one ad industry reporter and another a
fashion/culture freelance journalist, indicated they rely on blogs in one way or
another. One stated: “Not daily, but they do keep me up to date on things I might
not normally track and I have gotten story ideas from them.” This same journalist
delineated the way in which she utilized blogs: “Idea gathering. Never fact-
checking. But if the practitioner reads enough blogs he/she starts to notice
trends, and that can be really helpful with story ideas.” When asked how often
blogs influence her story ideas, she indicated approximately once per month.
I don't rely on them, but they are helpful because it's impossible
to track what's going on in this country. It's impossible to read
every local newspaper, so there may be a blogger who is reading
a local paper and blogging about it, rather than the New York
Times, which every journalist is reading. So it really allows for a
larger diversity of story ideas because you can get more local. I
do want to bring up the example of a story I wrote for Jane
Magazine about a woman who was stabbed 24 times in the
head, neck and back and then left to die in a storage locker (and
her miraculous escape). It was covered by one newspaper in
Virginia. I never would have found that story if I hadn't been
reading a blog where someone posted something along the lines
of, "Look at this chick. She's Wonder Woman." Now, I had to go
to Virginia and do the reporting myself. Of course I didn't just rely
on the blog. But I got a feature story out of the fact that one
person on one random blog read the story in Richmond and
thought she was amazing.

Public relations practitioners need to pay attention to blogs particularly
because this is the influential realm where the consumer makes up his/her mind
and goes from “interested” to “ready to purchase.” This is also where the
individual changes his/her mind about the reputation of a public figure like
Online Public Relations 22
22
Senator Trent Lott, or a retail chain like Wal-Mart. If a consumer reads a positive
review on a blog and ultimately on an article in the L.A. Times regarding a certain
product, he/she will be more likely to make the purchase. But blog readers are
not the only individuals the practitioner can reach by targeting blogs; it is the
mainstream reader of traditional publications who can be ultimately reached. It is
a trickle effect in that stories picked up by blogs may ultimately end up in
traditional publications, and thus read by more mainstream audiences, as is
evidenced in the above interview.
The Online Long Tail
The long tail is a concept created by Wired magazine editor Chris
Anderson, first in article form then as the seminal book, The Long Tail (2006).
The model states that niche products in low demand can make up or even
exceed their part of the market share by cultivating large channels of distribution.
A significant consequence of this long tail concept is the long-term impact of
entering a niche market.
The significance of the online sphere to the long tail rests on the Internet
fostering, and even encouraging, niche groups to form. Amazon.com’s business
model, for example, rests on this theory. The seller moves a specific unit of
bestsellers but also moves an even larger number of niche-based books that are
not in brick-and-mortar bookstores. Furthermore, the long tail of online public
relations means long-term brand development and word-of-mouth building
through grassroots means. An SNS environment is perfectly suited for this type
Online Public Relations 23
23
of market, because it is made up of users interested in both mainstream and
niche products. The digital environment makes this latter group easier to find.
The Practice of Online Public Relations
The concepts of Mavens, Connectors, Salesmen and the long tail of
marketing play a significant role in public relations campaigns that seek to
infiltrate the online sphere. In this paper, I propose that public relations
practitioners who would like to add online tactics to their campaigns should focus
on the following areas: 1) personal blogs and social network profiles, and 2)
media and journalist blogs. For personal and media blogs, we will use the
definitions stated earlier in this paper, which were created by drawing constructs
from academic literature, and that are utilized specifically for this paper. Outreach
recommendations have been built upon influencer outreach philosophy as
outlined by the Word of Mouth Marketing Association.
Outreach to Personal Blogs and Social Network Profiles
Outreach to personal blogs and social network profiles tap into the idea of
the tipping point and the diffusion model. We have earlier analyzed research that
found evidence of the authoritative role that bloggers play on their audiences
(Marlow, 2006). This might be the reason why: If bloggers are Early Adopters,
Mavens and Salesmen, then it follows that their audiences will be persuaded by
their messages. The bloggers are adopting new ideas or new products (as Early
Adopters, Mavens) and are blogging about the product to their audiences, thus
influencing them (as Salesmen). If the blogger is linking readers to a “buy now”
Online Public Relations 24
24
page where they can purchase the product in question, this will mean increased
revenue. In fact, comScore reports that users who read blogs visit twice as many
pages as they would if they were on a website, and are much more likely to shop
on that site. (comScore, 2005).
Thus, a blog post either linking or giving a positive review to your product,
idea or entertainment client is the embodiment of word-of-mouth outreach
stemming from private blogger outreach. If your blogger outreach is successful,
the practitioner has thus created a mini-promotional army that is creating an
online buzz for your brand in an audience that will read that post, follow the links
and pass along to their own friends (perhaps even on their SNS profile). The
Word of Mouth Marketing Association has labeled this buzz as “cultivating
evangelists, advocates, or volunteers who are encouraged to take a leadership
role in actively spreading the word on your behalf.” (Word of Mouth Marketing
Association, 2005 & 2008)
Several online marketing firms have already been utilizing this model. In the
public relations arena, major public relations firms such as Edelman, Ketchum
and Burson-Marsteller have already begun incorporating personal blogger
outreach, or influencer outreach, on relevant campaigns. From a review of the
literature, the process of conducting blogger outreach for public relations
purposes includes the following actions:
1. Conduct targeted research to find bloggers interested in the product or
idea and create a database.
Online Public Relations 25
25
2. Devise targeted messaging and materials to interest the blogger in the
product.
3. Outreach to bloggers.
4. Collect placements.
5. Establish a continuing relationship, if appropriate.
Targeted Research
Harris and Whalen (2006) have outlined Burson-Masteller’s “e-fluential”
campaign, which recommends the following guidelines for finding targeted
influentials:
1) Visualize audience groups that would find the product or issue appealing.
2) Create ways of drawing interest to the product and make it happen
(events, incentives, freebies).
3) Generate an e-mail database of customers.
4) Visualize the set of characteristics that would define the targeted blogger
5) Invite members of this group to participate in a poll (thus identifying who
leaders are).
6) Engage this group in future marketing plans.
This list can also be applied to seek out and find bloggers, but in a much
simpler modified form:
1) Develop a set of tags and keywords that are significant for your product.
For example, when conducting outreach for an Activision video game
for a Sony Playstation that focuses on vampires, your tags and
Online Public Relations 26
26
keywords might be: videogames, vampire, scary videogame, dark
videogame, multiplayer videogame, playstation videogames.
2) Enter these tags and keywords into blog search engines like Google
Blog Search or Technorati.
3) Visit blogs that are the most relevant to your search terms and note the
alignment of blog content to your product. The practitioner can choose
to focus on popular blogs with high traffic, niche-type blogs, or social
networking profiles.
4) Create a list of targeted blogs for current and future use; this list should
be a narrowed version of the list of blogs on item three above. Blogs
that should be picked should be timely (i.e. no lapse in posting for more
than a few months), focused (the topic of the practitionerr outreach
should be substantially touched upon by the blog in question and the
mention should not be fleeting), and should have an easy route of
contact (the blogger’s e-mail address or a contact form is often included
on a blog’s “About Me” page).
Blogger Outreach
Blogger outreach should structurally follow the rules of traditional media
outreach that the public relations practitioner is accustomed to: well-constructed
press releases and media advisories; follow-ups and providing images and
additional materials. However, these materials should be specifically targeted for
Online Public Relations 27
27
bloggers; for example, the press release should be concise and individualized,
and the tone should be casual.
There are several studies that have investigated how bloggers become
interested in a product or topic. Burson-Masteller’s “e-fluential” campaign, for
example, recommends short, concise and personalized e-mail pitches that are
not overly commercial, but are casually written and utilize less formal titles (using
blogger’s first name). The pitches should get directly to the point and emphasize
the value of the product or idea, and show the blogger that the practitioner has
done his/her research and have at least a familiar understanding of the target
blog. Additionally, practitioners may wish to provide incentives, such as DVD
screeners for the blogger to utilize for contests or giveaways or for product
reviews, or invites to relevant events such as film screenings, or product
samples.
Media and Journalist Blogs
Public relations practitioners must treat media and journalist blogs with the
respect given to a traditional reporter. The same rules that apply to personal
bloggers also apply to media and journalist blogs. However, media and journalist
blogs are much easier to find. Also, messages to media bloggers should be more
professional in tone. Traditional media lists go out the window, though, as does
traditional media pitching.
Targeted Research
Online Public Relations 28
28
Media and journalist bloggers with high traffic can be found using “Top
Blogs” lists on aggregators such as Technorati, Google Blog Search or
comScore, which normally categorize blogs according to content. If a public
relations practitioner were conducting blogger outreach for a vampire videogame,
for instance, he/she might choose Kotaku (Gawker’s video game blog). A tech
product would warrant Ars Technica or Engadget, Gizmodo, or Tech Crunch,
whereas a fashion product might be best suited for Fashionista, IAmFashion,
Coolhunter, The Manolo, Style.com, or The Budget Fashionista. Finding
journalist bloggers can be found using online destinations of newspapers and
other media organizations, and finding blogs within their pages. A simple online
search of a journalist’s name can also facilitate finding journalist blogs.
Blogger Outreach
Scott, in his “New Rules of Media Relations” (2006) gives us a good
framework for doing outreach to media or journalist blogs, some of which are
similar to frameworks for dealing with traditional media:
1. Nontargeted, broadcast pitches are spam.
2. News releases sent to reporters in subject areas they do not cover are
spam.
3. Reporters who don’t know you yet are looking for organizations like yours
and products like yours—make sure they will find you on sites such as
Google and Technorati.
4. If you blog, reporters who cover that beat will find you
5. Pitch bloggers, because being covered in important blogs will most likely
get you noticed by mainstream media.
6. When was the last news release you sent? Make sure your organization is
“busy.”
7. Journalists want a great online media room!
8. Some (but not all) reporters love RSS feeds.
9. Personal relationships with reporters are important.
Online Public Relations 29
29
10. Don’t tell journalists what your product does. Tell them how you solve
customer problems.

In terms of sending press releases, similar rules apply to those outlined for
personal bloggers, but greater care should be undertaken to create releases and
pitches that are closer to the original definition of public relations materials. This
is due to the fact that all journalist bloggers and other media bloggers are well
versed in public relations and marketing-speak. They may give more weight to
the more professional pitch. However, the practitioner should still have a casual
tone in the pitch.
One additional tip is that the product or company should be easy to find on
the web. As Scott suggested, when a journalist is interested in finding a product
or company on the web, he/she will utilize a major search engine. The company
must secure a placement in the search engine results. This can be done by
outreaching to personal blogs which was described in the previous section, but
also by creating a product or company blog and including relevant information
the practitioner would like journalists to find (Goodwin, 2003).
Instilling Trust
The practitioner must also interact with other bloggers and become part of
the online conversation. Doing this fosters a sense of trust and loyalty in the
blogger or in the blogger’s audience. Communication can be established by
commenting on blog posts or message boards about particular topics about
which the practitioner might be interested in or that touch upon the topic of the
Online Public Relations 30
30
product he/she is pitching or the organization he/she is representing (Gardner,
2005; Teten, 2003).
Instilling a sense of trust in bloggers and other online audiences is
imperative to the practitioner. Early Adopters and Salesmen are followed by
mainstream audiences because they are trusted and are seen as authorities.
Structural holes are individuals who influence others in the networks by linking
them to other networks not already linked. Practitioners should take on the role of
Early Adopters, Salesmen and structural holes by making sure that: 1) their
message is authentic; no part of the disseminated information should be
contrived, 2) their message is targeted; the practitioner should obtain as much
information as possible about each targeted blog and should structure the
message according to the blogger’s interest, and 3) the message includes a
transparency clause. A special section on transparency follows due to its
importance in blogger outreach.
When outreach involves direct communication with the public, whether in
a blog’s comment section or in the creation of a blog itself, the practitioner should
be truthful and authentic in his/her messaging. The practitioner will not pretend to
be a consumer or regular commenter and should disclose his/her membership or
role. It has become all too simple to find the source of a comment, post or e-mail
by merely extracting the IP address of the computer that was used to comment.
This could lead the trail directly to a practitioner’s company and will be an
Online Public Relations 31
31
embarrassment to the client, damaging any type of online credibility that had
been established.
One well-known example of this type of mistake took place in 2006 when it
was discovered that a blog called “Wal-Marting Across America,” which was
purportedly created by a working couple visiting Wal-Marts across the nation,
was fake and was in fact created by Edelman, the public relations firm hired by
the retail chain. It was later shown that another blog, Paid Critics, was written by
employees of Edelman as well. The Word of Mouth Association held Edelman
accountable for breaking the association’s ethics code and the firm issued an
apology. But the damage in the minds of online consumers was probably already
done (CNN, 2006).
The many different do’s-and-dont’s of reaching out to bloggers goes
beyond the limits of this paper. General best and worst practices of doing
personal and media/journalist blog outreach can be found on Appendices A and
B.
Blog Placements
Bloggers, either personal or media, might become interested in a
practitioner’s e-mail pitch and will then proceed to alert his/her readers. They
may take the content and disseminate it in several different ways. They may
create a text-only post; a post with images the practitioner may or may not have
provided; a video post (with embedded video), or a combination. A text post
might be a review, a recap, or commentary. One of the most important parts to
Online Public Relations 32
32
this post will be the links, which, as mentioned earlier in this paper, were found to
be very significant in message transmission (Marlow, 2006). Links should be to a
predetermined location that practitioners direct bloggers to. For example, a link
might direct consumers to a webpage where they can purchase the product, or to
the general company website.
What happens when a campaign has successfully spawned placements,
but the practitioner finds that a targeted blogger has slammed the pitched
product? Any good public relations professional knows how to deal with journalist
backlash, and his/her arsenal should be no different with bloggers. However,
unlike with traditional media, where a series of editors or news producers stands
between the practitioner and a second chance at a balanced story, bloggers
operate more independently and may be more receptive to additional appeals.
Practitioners should respectfully offer more information, offer up a re-review,
write an editorial letter or post a comment. However, a particular problem is
created when a client is an entertainment personality, and when a blog write-up
was not sought out by the public relations specialist or publicist. This type of case
deserves special attention.
Special Case: Blogs in Entertainment
This paper devotes special attention to entertainment blogs because they
have additional layers of complexity. Entertainment news and gossip blogs
exhibit unique characteristics that make it particularly difficult for entertainment
public relations practitioners and publicists to understand and properly utilize
Online Public Relations 33
33
them. The trend has been for this specialty of professionals to ignore blogs or go
so far as to actively keep clients away from them (Barbaro, 2008). The
unfortunate side effect has been that entertainment public relations practitioners
are forced to deal with these entities only after a media crisis situation has begun
and has become hard to contain.
The gossip blog became popular with the emergence of Perezhilton.com,
a blog phenomenon created by a young public relations professional, Mario
Lavendeira. The site did two things to the media landscape: It brought the
sensational nature of tabloid magazines like OK, Page Six and The Enquirer to
the web, and it was the first major gossip blog to be introduced to early and late
mainstream audiences.
Due to the popularity and success of this blog, a multitude of other gossip
sites were launched and the “entertainment blog” was introduced into the lexicon
of popular culture, a boundary that perhaps Gawker and other media sites have
not yet reached. Gossip sites like PerezHilton.com, TMZ (both of which have
spawned successful television series), Jossip, JustJared and Dlisted, among
hundreds (perhaps thousands) of others, have the characteristics of media blogs
but have the added layer of sometimes including a very negative portrayal of
celebrities, always without much concern for legal ramifications of libeling a
public or private person online.
The significance of the gossip and media blog in terms of covering
celebrities was best summed up by Emily Gould, Gawker’s former co-editor. In
Online Public Relations 34
34
her New York Times article (2006), “Coordinates of the Rich and Famous,” she
talks about a “symbiotic relationship that has existed between celebrities and the
mainstream entertainment media” which is currently being ripped apart by
entertainment and media blogs. Gould believes that, unlike some entertainment
media like In Style and Variety, bloggers don’t require access to celebrities, and
so they don’t see the need to tone down their messages to appease nervous
publicists or weary editors. She believes that blogs are changing the face of
entertainment publicity and public relations by taking away the level of control
that practitioners once had. In short, celebrity blogs are changing the rules of the
game, and public relations practitioners must be ready to change along with
them.
The effects of Internet-based, user-generated gossip aren’t limited
to the stars themselves, of course. Publicists’ jobs are made more
difficult when clients blame them for not being able to manipulate
coverage by controlling access. And celebrity lawyers find
themselves confused, to say the least, by the flexible, ephemeral
nature of blogs: if a cease-and-desist order arrives, the remedy’s
usually as quick and simple as taking the offending post down. Also
threatened — though less so — are the paparazzi. True, their
services are more in demand than ever. But the near-instantaneous
diffusion across the Internet of celebrity images damages their
ability to charge magazines and newspapers insane prices for their
photographs.

After Emily’s exit from Gawker, she followed up this article with an expose
of media blogs (Gould, 2008), where she criticized the process of writing
negative items about celebrities in a way that was unfettered by publicists or
agents. She also spoke about the dangers of a blogger becoming an online
Online Public Relations 35
35
phenomenon as well, as she later became due to the popularity of the blog she
worked for.
Perfect examples can be seen in the hectic current media coverage of
entertainment personalities. At the time of this writing, the top Technorati
searches included: Jennifer Garner, Paris Hilton, Jennifer Aniston and Vanessa
Minnillo. In January 2008, Billboard named Britney Spears and Amy Winehouse
the top “blogged about artists” of 2007. However, these “popularity” results can
be misleading. What the magazine failed to capture is that most of the content in
blog posts about these two and other such artists is primarily negative in nature.
These two musicians, along with actresses Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan,
seem to have received the most voluminous and also the most negative blog
coverage between 2007 and 2008. Only time will tell who will be the next most-
blogged-about faces of the next several years, but publicists must be ready to
deal with this potential issue.
Alternatively, the publicist must not ignore the positive coverage and
should actively seek out friendly bloggers or others who may be interested in
posting positive information. The practitioner should foster positive chatter about
his/her client by utilizing the facets of blogger outreach outlined in the previous
section; namely offering exclusives, granting interviews or event coverage, or
giving away merchandise. Merely lumping all bloggers into the negative category
and restricting any type of relationship will only hurt the client.
Online Public Relations 36
36
Publicists can actively utilize blogs and video content to promote their
client’s projects or cleaning up a client’s image. For example, after John
McCain’s presidential campaign developed a political spot against Barack
Obama that featured Paris Hilton in a negative light, the actress struck back by
teaming up with the site Funnyordie.com and producing a spoof. This garnered
her positive coverage on several highly trafficked blogs that had, up until then,
written mostly negative things about her.
Strategies
What’s a publicist to do? For one, he/she should not ignore the coverage.
While it’s simple to do so, it will only hurt a client in the long run primarily
because an online rumor has the potential to grow so large that it will quickly
demand the attention of traditional journalists. As I have stated repeatedly
throughout this paper, traditional and popular publications are routinely
monitoring the blogosphere for important news leads. Does the practitioner really
want the editor of a major publication to choose next month’s magazine cover
based on Perez Hilton’s photo of his/her client beating up a car with an umbrella,
or crashing into a building?
How to effectively respond when a gossip blog mentions a client in a
negative light lies at the heart of traditional crisis communication theory, which
denotes a “containment, damage and limitation” phase of a crisis situation.
Reacting to a crisis while in crisis management mode involves short-term
thinking; a focus on the present problem (Miroff and Linstone (1995) in the
Online Public Relations 37
37
seminal business book “The Unbounded Mind” call this call this “managerial
myopia”), inflexibility in dealing with the obstacle and an unwillingness to use
alternative solutions, focus on process as opposed to theories that address the
larger picture. Generally, practitioners with this mindset have a difficult time
overcoming the crisis with which their clients are faced. Reacting to a crisis in an
efficient way involves crisis leadership, reacting in a flexible manner, utilizing
different approaches to solve the problem, all while handling the containment,
damage and limitation phases of the crisis.
Online strategies that the public relations practitioner should undertake
after a client is targeted by a gossip blog should follow the same traditional
structure mentioned above: Practitioners should calmly examine and research
the extent of the situation, then display flexibility in looking at the issue (because
of the fact that one is dealing with a new medium, it is imperative to show
flexibility); utilize various online strategies to contain the problem (e-mailing the
blogger, distributing news releases, creating new key messages, responding
publicly, etc.) and limit the problem by attempting to isolate the situation to just a
handful of bloggers (by way of a cease-and-desist order or other legal means if
the threat is bad enough).
Simply hiding out or ignoring negative blog chatter is not advisable and
may permanently damage a client’s image and reputation. Practitioners make
several mistakes: They respond too quickly without gathering all the facts or the
extent of the damage, or they fail to recognize the instantaneous nature of the
Online Public Relations 38
38
24/7 news cycle and respond too slowly, when the reputation damage has
already been done. However, publicists are simply not responding to these types
of crisis. Several high profile publicists I spoke to stated they do not pay attention
to blogs and have not devised strategies outlining how to deal with negative
blogger attention. One of the reasons cited was simply not having the resources
available to deal with the additional workload.
There are several examples in the current pop culture landscape that
show the consequences of ignoring the blogosphere, but one is particularly
salient. Beginning in 2007, pop star Britney Spears began a high-profile
downward spiral, which resulted in her hospitalization. When blogs began
reporting on her very public meltdowns, her publicist at the time, Leslie Sloan, did
not issue a statement in defense of her client and did not seem to castigate the
blogs that were reporting these stories. As a result, the stories very quickly
garnered mainstream media attention and ultimately became front page news.
Coverage of Ms. Spears’s problems then went mainstream, with CNN, Reuters
and AP conspicuously reporting on her on a daily basis. Her antics continue to
provide gossip blog and now traditional media fodder, with her image
permanently tarnished and her career outlook diminished. Her problem only
partly had to do with the way that her publicist handled the media attention, but
had she had someone who specialized in online crisis, much of the initial
negative publicity may have been avoided.
Online Public Relations 39
39
In 2008, Britney Spears launched a successful comeback campaign to
promote her new album, ‘Circus.’ Her new public relations representative
seemed to have added an online component to the singer’s marketing and
publicity campaign by launching a brand new Britney Spears website. The site
contained a blog which allowed comments, exclusive backstage photos and
music videos, a general comment section for fans to post comments, and a
section where fans could add the singer on MySpace, YouTube, Facebook and
Twitter. This seems to have been a positive step in the right direction since it
gave fans and other bloggers news, backstage access and information they
would not normally have access to.
Celebrity Blogging
Another clearly successful strategy involves allowing celebrities to blog.
This blog might disclose current career steps as well as personal topics and
issues. The logic behind this involves inoculation; celebrities are taking the power
away from gossip blogs by reporting their own news first. This serves to discredit
gossip blogs that ultimately wish to be “the first” to break a story.
A great example of this is musician John Mayer, whose blog has covered
topics high in media attention, such as his breakup with pop star Jessica
Simpson (See Appendix E). By blogging heavily about this issue and adding a
comedic slant, the actor seems to have decreased the amount of negative stories
about himself. This is the online equivalent of beating them to the punch.
Online Public Relations 40
40
TV show host Rosie O’Donnell has also turned to blogging and video
blogging, particularly about political and controversial topics. Although her rants
at times receive a great of media attention, particularly if she decides to blog on a
controversial topic, she is breaking her own news first, and thus scooping gossip
blogs. This takes away the immediacy and secrecy of her rants. Because gossip
blogs have little interest in reporting her latest heated argument about the War in
Iraq if she has already disclosed her view to 798,999 of her fans on her MySpace
page.
The social network site MySpace took advantage of this trend by
launching its celebrity channel in 2008. The section allowed celebrities to have
their own official profile on the site and to blog in a more controlled environment.
Several celebrities took advantage of the opportunity, some choosing to use the
site to post more generic updates and others using their profiles to blog about
personal topics and respond to media rumors. This offers a simple and more
controlled way for the publicist to allow his/her client to blog and thus reach out to
their fans.
However, a celebrity blog must not appear to be ghostwritten by the
publicist and the production quality must not be overly sleek. Otherwise, the
entire purpose of the exercise is defeated. Fans will recognize the celebrity’s
tone or style of writing and will no doubt voice out their skepticism.

Online Public Relations 41
41
Discussion
This paper has attempted to outline the importance of blogging and social
networking for the public relations field, and the potential that this phenomenon
has for the industry. It has purported to bridge the gap between theory and
practice by denoting the connection between tipping point, long tail, network
theory, word-of-mouth concepts and blogging. Lastly, it has outlined concrete
steps that a public relations practitioner and publicist can follow should he/she
wish to incorporate online public relations strategies into a campaign, which have
also been merged into the documents in the Appendix of this paper.
It is important for the practitioner to recognize the pioneering
transformation currently taking place in the online arena. The media environment
is changing, and will be soon dominated by both print and online outlets. It is
imperative that the practitioner who understands the online sphere also utilizes it
efficiently. Sprinkling a few online tactics into a campaign is not enough. Online
strategies must become an essential component of all campaigns. If the
practitioner would like to remain strategic and continue to have relevant skills,
online public relations strategies should be actively sought out, highly developed
and well understood.

Online Public Relations 42
42

Glossary

Blog: website which is a collection of text posts, chronologically backwards in
time.

Hyperlink: Reference or way of navigating to another webpage or a section
within a site.

Social Network Site (SNS): A community of individuals online, composed of
profiles which are interconnected.

Instant messaging: A way of sending short-form typed messages between two
or more individuals through computers interconnected by a computer network
such as the Internet.

Astroturfing: Public relations and marketing tactic that gives a created entity the
appearance that it is grassroots-based. Example: a blog created by marketing
but that is said to be created by a fan.

Spamming: Nearly identical e-mails or blog comments sent to an individual or a
blog. Is often a nuisance.

Viral videos: Video clip or scene that has gained great popularity throughout the
Internet.

Online blog publisher/media company: Entity which is a collection of blogs,
under the leadership of an editor-in-chief, often funded by private enterprise.

MySpace: Online social networking site which garners the most traffic out of all
SNSs. Mainly used by the general public in addition to musicians, film makers
and entertainers. Includes a video component.

Facebook: Online social networking site which initially was utilized by college
students and alumni but has now expanded to include companies, organizations
and workplaces.

Second Life: Online social networking site which consists of virtual avatars
within virtual environment. Instead of profiles, users have avatars that interact
with his/her surroundings.

Technorati: Online search function that searches blogs and ranks them
according to traffic.
Online Public Relations 43
43

Profile: In the context of a social network site, an individual, personalized page
that might include a main picture and personal information. Can be made to be
public or private.

Avatar: Icon, often taking the form of an image, representing an individual on an
instant messenger program or a social network site.

Landing page: The page that one “lands” on after clicking a hyperlink.

Vimeo: Online video site. Contains user-generated videos and content from TV
networks.

Hulu: Online video site. Contains TV and film content.

Fancast: Online video site. Contains TV and film content. Created and owned by
Comcast.

AIM: One of the more popular instant messaging programs. Created and owned
by America Online. Short for AOL Instant Messenger.

ICQ: One of the original instant messaging programs.

Friendster: One of the original social network sites.

Xanga: Social network site.

Friends: In the context of a social network site, a “friend” is another profile one is
connected to through hyperlinks. A user “adds” friends to increase traffic on one’s
page or a person can ask to be added as a friend.

Sixdegrees.com: One of the original social network sites. Does not share
several characteristics with modern social network sites.

Classmates.com: One of the original social network sites. It originally did not
share the characteristics of modern social network sites.

Online virtual world: Social network site that is more graphically driven than a
traditional SNS. Avatars are more highly developed and the outside world is
digitalized. Example: Second Life.

Post: Article or story within a blog. Can be in narrative form and may include
photos, pictures, video, audio or a quote.

Online Public Relations 44
44
Personal Blogs: Blogs written by an individual with a large or small audience.
Content might be personal, in diary form, or more observational in nature.

Media Blogs: Blogs written by an individual or a group of authors with a large
audience. Content is often observational and can be about entertainment, media,
sports, local matters, fashion, etc. May be self-contained or owned by a larger
entity (a traditional company like AOL or a blog publishing company). Is always
revenue driven.

Hyperlinks: A link from one page to another page.

Online blog publishing company: Large entity taking ownership of one or
several blogs. May have created or purchased blogs. Most popular one is
Gawker Media.

Gawker Media: One of the bigger and more popular blog publishing companies.

MSM: Mainstream media.

Google Blog Search: Site that allows for searching throughout multiple blogs
using keywords, traffic parameters, and topical categories.

Technorati: Site that allows for searching throughout multiple blogs and ordering
blogs according to volume of traffic.

SEO: (Search engine optimization) Optimizing a blog so that it pulls in the
highest volume of traffic organically, through placement of keywords, titles, tags,
hyperlinks and targeted content.

Celebrity blogging: Blogging by a high-profile personality, normally in the
entertainment industry.

Funnyordie.com: Video site. Contains user generated videos and professionally
produced videos, usually comedic in nature. Often collaborates with entertainers
like Paris Hilton and Will Ferrell to produce funny video clips.

Ning: Social network site primarily used internationally.

Twitter: Micro-blogging platform utilized to send out updates to profile friends. A
mixture of Instant Messenger and a classic social network site.
Online Public Relations 45
45

References

Anderson, C. (2006). The Long Tail: Why the future of business is selling less of
more. New York: Hyperion Books.

Annenberg School for Communication (USC) & Ketchum. (2006). Media Myths
and Realities: 2006 Media Usage Survey. Los Angeles, CA.

Arrington, M. (2008). End of Speculation: The Real Twitter Usage Numbers.
TechCrunch. Web site: http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/04/29/end-of-
speculation-the-real-twitter-usage-numbers/

Associated Press. (2006). Search Giant Google to buy Youtube for $1.64bill.
Retrieved from FoxNews. Web site:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,218921,00.html

Baoill, A. O. (2005, February). Conceptualizing The Weblog: Understanding
What It Is In Order To Imagine What It Can Be. Interfacing: A Journal of
Contemporary Media Studies.

Backstrom, L., Huttenlocher, D. & Kleinberg, J. (2006). Group Formation in Large
Social Networks: Membership, Growth, and Evolution. Presented at KDD, August
20-23, Philadelphia.

Barbaro, M. (2008, January 28). Target Tells a Blogger to Go Away. The New
York Times.

Bonhard, P. and M A Sasse (2006). Knowing Me Knowing You: Using Profiles
and Social Networking to Improve Recommender Systems. BT Technology
Journal, Vol 24 (3).

boyd, d. (2004). The new blogocracy. Salon.com. Web site:
http://dir.salon.com/story/tech/feature/2004/07/28/demoblog/

boyd, d. m. (2004). Friendster and Publicly Articulated Social Networking.
Conference on Human Factors and Computing Systems. Vienna, Austria.

boyd, d. & Heer, J. (2006, January). Profiles as Conversation: Networked Identity
Performance on Friendster. In Proceedings of the Hawai'i International
Conference on System Sciences (HICSS-39), Persistent Conversation Track.
Kauai, HI: IEEE Computer Society.

Online Public Relations 46
46
boyd, d. 2006. A Blogger’s Blog: Exploring the Definition of a Medium.
Reconstruction. Web site: http://reconstruction.eserver.org/064/boyd.shtml

boyd d. m. & Ellison, N.. (2007, October). Social Network Sites: Definition,
History, and Scholarship. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication.

CNN Money. (2006, October 20) PR Firm Admits It’s Behind Wal-Mart Blogs.
Web site:
http://money.cnn.com/2006/10/20/news/companies/walmart_blogs/index.htm

comScore (2006). News Release: More than Half of MySpace Visitors are Now
Age 35 or Older, as the Site's Demographic Composition Continues to Shift,
2006. Web site:
http://www.comScore.com/press/release.asp?press=1019

comScore (2005). Behaviors of the Blogosphere, Understanding the scale and
composition of weblog audiences. August 2005.

comScore (2008) comScore Media Metrix Ranks Top 50 U.S. Web Properties for
September 2008.

comScore (2008) Huffington Post and Politico Lead Wave of Explosive Growth at
Independent Political Blogs and News Sites this Election Season.

Donath, J. and Boyd, D. (2004). Public Displays of Connection. BT Technology
Journal 22(4).

Eastman, J. (2007, December) The Other Housing Crunch. Los Angeles Times
Web Site: http://www.latimes.com/features/home/la-hm-
magazines20dec20,1,7635720.story

Eldon, E. (2007, July). comScore’s June US Numbers: Facebook Still Gaining On
MySpace. Venture Beat.

Fisher, D. (2003). Social Networks for End Users. Irvine, University of California,
Irvine.

Flew, T. (2007). A Citizen Journalism Primer. In Proceedings Communications
Policy Research Forum 2007, University of Technology, Sydney.

Fogarty, J., Forlizzi, J., Hudson, S. (2003). Portrait: Generating Personal
Presentations. Graphics Interface, 209-216.

Online Public Relations 47
47
Gardner, S. (2005). Buzz Marketing With Blogs For Dummies. New Jersey: Wiley
Publishing, Inc.

Gibson, O. (2006, July). Interview: Chris DeWolfe, Co-Founder of MySpace.
Guardian. Web site:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2006/jul/03/news.mondaymediasection

Gill, K. E. (2005). Blogging, RSS and the Information Landscape: A Look At
Online News, University of Washington.

Gladwell, M. (2005). The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big
Difference. New York: Back Bay Books.

Goodwin, K. (2003).Weblogs: Realigning Business, Technology &
Communication.
[White paper] Retrieved from The New PR/Wiki. Web site:
http://www.imninc.com/pdf/Blogs.pdf

Gould, E. (2006, May). Coordinates of the Rich and Famous. New York Times.
Web site: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/04/opinion/04gould.html

Gould, E. (2008, May) Exposed. New York Magazine. Web site:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/25/magazine/25internet-
t.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Grigoriadris, V. (2007, October). Gawker and the Rage of the Creative
Underclass. New York Magazine. Web site:
http://nymag.com/news/features/39319/

Grossman, L. (2006, December) Time's person of the year: You. Time Magazine.
Web site: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1569514,00.html

Hampton, K. & Wellman B. The Not So Global Village of Netville. In Barry
Wellman and Caroline Haythornthwaite (Eds.) (2002). The Internet and Everyday
Life. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishers.

Hogg, T. & Adamic, L. (2004). Enhancing Reputation Mechanisms via Online
Social Networks. ED 04, New York, NY, ACM.

Hsu, K. (2004, October). Find new friends at the Facebook and get connected!
The Daily Texan.

Kadushin, C. (2004, February) Chapter 2: Some Basic Network Concepts and
Propositions. Basic Network Concepts Charles Kadushin.
Online Public Relations 48
48

Kerwin, K. M. (2005). Hyperlink Use on Personal Weblogs. Department of
Communication. NY at Buffalo, The State University of New York at Buffalo.
Master of Arts.

Kirkpatrick, D. (2005, January). Why there's no escaping the blog. Fortune.
Retrieved from CNN Money. Web site:
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2005/01/10/8230982/in
dex.htm

Kurtz, H. (2008, January 21). Second L.A. Times editor is ousted for balking at
power cuts. Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/content/article/2008/01/20/AR2008012001660.html?hpid=sec-nation

Learmonth, M. (2008). Print’s Gonna Get Hammered Even More. Silicon Valley
Insider. Web site:
http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/2/24_7_real_media_ceo_david_moore

Lee, C. (2008, November 29). How Will Obama Use New Media? Politico. Web
site: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1108/15984.html

Lenhart, A., Horrigan, J. (2004). Content Creation Online. PEW Internet &
American Life Project. Washington, DC.

Lenhart, A. & Madden, M. (2005). Teen Content Creators and Consumers. PEW
Internet & American Life Project. Washington DC.

Lenhart, A., Mary M., & Hitlin, P., (2005, July 27). Teens and Technology: Youth
are Leading the Transition to a Fully Wired and Mobile Nation. Pew Internet &
American Life Project, Washington, DC.

Lenhart, A., L. Rainie, et al. (2007) Teenage life online: The rise of the instant-
message generation and the Internet's impact on friendships and family
relationships. Pew Internet & American Life Project, Washington, DC.

Leventhall, M. (2007) Forbes Best of The Web pick. Forbes. Web site:
http://www.forbes.com/bow/b2c/category.jhtml?id=316

Marlow, C. (2006). Audience, structure and authority in the weblog community.
Masters thesis, MIT Media Laboratory.

McCarthy, C. (2008). comScore's latest numbers: Worldwide social-networking
growth. CNET.com. Web site: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-9752857-
36.html
Online Public Relations 49
49

Miller, H. (Eds.). (1995). The Presentation of Self in Electronic Life: Goffman on
the Interne:. Embodied Knowledge and Virtual Space Conference, Goldsmiths'
College. London: University of London. Web site:
http://psicopolis.com/psicopedia/selfweb.htm

Miroff, I., Linstone, A. (1995). The Unbounded Mind: Breaking the Chains of
Traditional Business Thinking. New York: Oxford University Press.

Moses, L (2007). CN Shutters Jane Magazine, website. AdWeek. Web site:
http://www.adweek.com/mw/news/print/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003
608926

Nardi, B. A., Schiano, D.J. et al. (2004). Blogging as Social Activity, or, Would
you let 900 Million People Read Your Diary? Proceedings of CSCW 2004,
November 6-10, 2004, Chicago, IL

Nardi, B. A., Schiano, D., Gumbrecht, M., & Swartz, L. (2004). "I'm blogging this":
A closer look at why people blog. Proceedings for Communications of the
Association for Computer Machinery. December, 2004. Web site:
http://www.ics.uci.edu/~jpd/classes/ics234cw04/nardi.pdf

Nilsson, S. (2003). The Function of Language to Facilitate and Maintain Social
Networks in Research Weblogs, Umea universitet.

O'Donnell, P. (2006) Users And The Marketing Efficacy Of Mp3 Music Blogs.
Master of Arts, Florida State University.

O’Neal, M. (2008, July 23). Tribune may be over worst. Chicago Tribune.

Park, P. (2003). Bloggers and warbloggers as public intellectuals: Charting the
authoritative space of the weblog. Proceedings of Internet Research 4.0,
October, Toronto, Canada.

Phillips, P. (2006). Media Layoffs: Six Years of Cutback Reports. I Want Media.
Web site: http://www.iwantmedia.com/layoffs.html#first

Prince, C.J (2004) Can Social Networking Sites Help Your Biz? Social
networking sites offer entrepreneurs a chance to connect with investors, potential
partners and customers. Entrepreneur Magazine. Web site:
http://www.entrepreneur.com/magazine/entrepreneur/2005/july/78298.html

Prior, L. (2003). The Three Waves of Online Journalism. In die Zukunft der
Zeitung? Eds. By Christoph Neuberger & Jan Tonnemacher. VS Verlag.
Online Public Relations 50
50

Rainie, L. (2005). Pew/Internet & American Life Project: Data Memo, PIP.
Washington, DC.

Reuters (2006, Nov 29) Young favor Internet over TV. Miami Times.

Rose, F. (2008) Comcast Unveils Fancast Video and Film Finder. Wired. Web
site: http://www.wired.com/entertainment/theweb/news/2008/01/comcast_fancast

Rosenbloom, A. (2004). The Blogosphere. Proceedings from Communications of
the Association for Computing Machinery. 47(12).

Scott, D. M. (2007) The New Rules of Marketing and PR. New York: Wiley
Publishing.

Stelter, B (2008, July 7). The Facebooker Who Friended Obama. New York
Times. Web site: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/07/technology/07hughes.html

Stern, C. (2001, April 13). Newspaper publishers plan layoffs; NY Times, Dow
Jones To Cut. Web site: http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-434433.html

Strupp, J. (2008, February 19) Slain Editor Bailey Among George Polk Award
Winners. Editor and Publisher. Web site:
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_i
d=1003712141

Tapscott, D. & Williams, A. D. (2006). Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration
Changes Everything. New York: Penguin Group.

Teten, D. (2003). Make Your Business Click. Web site:
http://www.OnlineBusinessNetworking.com

Thompson, C. (2006, February 13) Blogs to riches: The haves and have-nots of
the blogging boom. The New York Times. Web site:
http://www.nymag.com/news/media/15967

Thomas, H. (2007) Watchdogs of Democracy?: The Waning Washington Press
Corps and how it Has Failed the Public. New York: Simon and Schuster.

Turner, T. K. (n.d.) Leveraging Online Social Networks to Mitigate Common
Issues in Nonprofit Management, Lawrence Technological University.

Online Public Relations 51
51
Twenge, J. M. (2007). Generation Me: Why Today's Young Americans are More
Confident, Assertive, Entitled--and More Miserable Than Ever Before. New
Hampshire: Free Press.

Wellman, B. and M. Gulia (1997). Net Surfers Don't Ride Alone: Virtual
Communities as Communities. In Communities and Cyberspace. Eds. By P.
Kollock and M. Smith. New York, Routledge.

Wheaton, K. (2007, November 8). Second Life Still a Waste of Money. AdAge.
Web site: http://adage.com/adages/post?article_id=121863

Word of Mouth Marketing Association. (2005, 2008) An Introduction To Word Of
Mouth Marketing. Web site: http://www.womma.org/wom101/02/

Online Public Relations 52
52
Appendix A

Best practices of doing blog outreach (consolidated from Harris, 139; Scott, 195;
Network Computing, 2006, and Wort of Mouth rules):

1. Transparency: The practitioner must be truthful, clear and upfront
about his/her motives and the fact that he/she is conducting outreach on
behalf of the client.

2. Incentives: These should be offered for a blogger’s honest review.
An explanation should be given to the blogger that he/she is not expected
to write an honest review. Use of incentives should be relevant and not
overly frivolous. The practitioner must recognize the fine line between
incentives and impropriety.

3. Timeliness: The practitioner should respond to the blogger in a
timely and efficient manner, particularly because to a blogger, the
timeliness of a post is extremely important. When a blogger makes initial
contact, take particular care to contact him/her immediately. Bloggers
reside in a 24/7 world; public relations practitioners must set up a similar
mechanism.

4. Respect and Access: Treat major bloggers with as much respect
as you would give to a traditional journalist. Afford bloggers the same
potential access to events and products for review. Do not ignore a
blogger, as Target did so by systematically ignoring “non traditional”
outlets and publicly stating the practice (Barbaro, 2008). There was an
immediate negative media fallout aimed at Target, resulting in several
negative blog posts, which were followed by negative and mocking news
articles in publications such as The New York Times.

Online Public Relations 53
53
Appendix B

Worst practices of blog outreach:

1. Astroturfing: Creating a fake blog without any form of transparency
disclosure (for an example see Dr. Pepper’s 2006 Raging Cow campaign
controversy).

2. Spamming: This applies to purposely spamming or seeming like spam.
Practitioners should take great care in personalizing e-mail pitches as best
they can, not abusing the power of e-mail by sending out countless
releases to the blogger, or one with too many hyperlinks (Kerwin, 2006).
An e-mail with too many links in e-mail pitches will also get tagged as
spam by most e-mail applications.

3. Fake viral videos: This is the practice similar to astroturfing, in that the
practitioner or publicist creates a marketable video to promote a product
but fails to disclose its transparency. For an example, see ‘The Secret
Strategy Behind Many Viral Videos (2007):
http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/22/the-secret-strategies-behind-
many-viral-videos

4. Paid placements: These are also called “paid to play.” It is the practice of
paying bloggers to post a positive review of the product. A fine line must
be made between transparently providing incentives to truthfully blog
about a product, and unethical pay given in return for positive reviews.

5. Being openly antagonistic towards bloggers: Outwardly publicizing
your negative perspective of blogs or company policies that do not see
blogs as important. For an example, see Target’s policy of being openly
hostile to bloggers (Barbaro, 2008).

6. Not following blog etiquette: These are the rules stated above; other,
more subtle rules include utilizing e-mail instead of the telephone, gently
following up instead of prodding the blogger, being casual in a pitch, etc.

Online Public Relations 54
54
Appendix C

Dealing with it: What can public relations professionals do after the client is
talked about in blogs? Using the blogosphere in the client’s favor:

1. Bad publicity or good publicity?: If the post is favorable, consider
yourself a good online public relations strategist and move to step 4. If the
post is negative, proceed to step 2.

2. Is the post inflammatory and being picked up by other blogs? If yes,
move to step 3. If not, monitor the blog as well as other blogs to watch for
similar posts. The story may die there.

3. Relationship: Reach out to blogger as opposed to being antagonistic.
Provide him/her with the correct information, or ask him/her to please take
down the story. Try to establish a good working relationship with the
blogger. Any antagonism, implied or otherwise, may result in the blogger
posting your letter to his readers or worse, posting additional inflammatory
blog posts about your client. Be prepared to seek out legal counsel if
relationship-building fails. If this succeeds, move to step 4.

4. Long-term relationship: Incorporate this relationship into your
marketing/publicity strategy. Send bloggers strategic tips and place them
on your press release list. Make them know you want to establish a good
working relationship with them and that you value their coverage. Giving a
blogger access to correct information may kill future incorrect stories and
gossip; a good relationship kills negative stories, because the blogger will
first come to you with a potential scoop as opposed to immediately posting
it.

5. Monitor the blogosphere: Just as you would with traditional media,
monitor the online chatter, but focus on blogs as well. Set up “Google
alerts” and utilize trackur.com for blogs so that any blog post mentioning
your client or reviewing your client’s product will quickly send an alert to
your e-mail inbox.

Online Public Relations 55
55
Appendix D

Faceook and MySpace offers newsfeeds and newsletters in the form of
“bulletins” and “newsfeeds”.

MySpace Updates & Bulletins Facebook Newsfeeds

Online Public Relations 56
56

Appendix E

Singer John Mayer uses blogs to his advantage to respond directly to rumors. In
this case, he responds to a gossip item.

www.johnmayer.com/blog

Abstract (if available)

Linked assets

University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

Conceptually similar

PDF

Social networking in the modern zeitgeist: an examination of why we're obsessed and how social media will define our future

PDF

The food truck phenomenon: A successful blend of PR and social media

PDF

Branding luxury: finding a balance between exclusivity and the inclusivity of a digital world

PDF

The influence of new media marketing public relations on the South Korean film industry -- in relation to the U.S. film industry

PDF

Creating community online: the effects of online social networking communities on college students' experiences

PDF

Using a digital publication to connect Black & Latinx women in Los Angeles

PDF

A study of social media practices and trends in the field of investor relations

PDF

The share factor: implications of global digital strategy for public relations

PDF

From Bernays to Baghdad: the evolution of propaganda as a recruitment tool: examining the Islamic State’s success through propaganda messaging on Twitter

PDF

Doing the hard work: including diversity and inclusion in your public relations tool kit to build stakeholder relationships

PDF

The impact of social media on the diabetes industry

PDF

Pictures on microblogs: Twitter vs. Weibo

PDF

Trading places: an in-depth analysis of entertainment public relations practices within different socio-economic contexts

PDF

A comparative analysis of the advertising and public relations disciplines in an era of digitally fueled audience control

PDF

The new ways of corporate communication in virtual environments: case studies of Second Life

PDF

The localization of global public relations firms in China

PDF

Lights, camera, (call to) action: global public engagement in film launch campaigns

PDF

Cultural differences in communication patterns of international B2C technology companies on Weibo and Twitter: an examination of effectiveness from a motivation perspective

PDF

Public health anti-obesity communication: an analysis of current campaigns for future guidance

PDF

Digital discourse in the fashion industry

Asset Metadata

Creator Murray, Ann Maureen (author)

Core Title Your public is online: public relations in an online world

School Annenberg School for Communication

Degree Master of Arts

Degree Program Strategic Public Relations

Publication Date 04/03/2009

Defense Date 04/03/2009

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag blogger outreach,blogging,blogs,digital PR,facebook,myspace,OAI-PMH Harvest,online PR,online publicity,social media marketing,social media PR,social networking,strategic PR,Twitter,YouTube

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Floto, Jennifer D. (committee chair), Chinn, Dana (committee member), Pryor, Lawrence (committee member)

Creator Email murray.undefined@gmail.com,murraya@usc.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-m2051

Unique identifier UC1191084

Identifier etd-Murray-2604 (filename),usctheses-m40 (legacy collection record id),usctheses-c127-205569 (legacy record id),usctheses-m2051 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-Murray-2604.pdf

Dmrecord 205569

Document Type Thesis

Rights Murray, Ann Maureen

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Repository Name Libraries, University of Southern California

Repository Location Los Angeles, California

Repository Email cisadmin@lib.usc.edu