Public Relations And Community

While public relations practitioners have long focused on the relationship between organizations and their stakeholders, there has never been a time when that relationship was so dominated by public participation. The new model of multiple messages originating from multiple publics at varying levels of engagement is widely acknowledged, but not widely explored in scholarly texts. The established model of one-way communication and message control no longer exists. Social media and an increasingly participatory culture means that fans are taking a more active role in the production and co-creation of messages, communication, and meaning. These fans have significant power in the relationship dynamic between the message, the communicator, and the larger audience, yet they have not been defined using current theory and discourse. Our existing conceptions fail to identify these active and engaged publics, let alone understand virtual communities who are highly motivated to communicate with organizations and brands. This innovative and original research collection attempts to address this deficit by exploring these interactive, engaged publics, and open up the complexities of establishing and maintaining relationships in fan-created communities.

Diverse in economic development, political and mass media systems, the countries in South East Asia cast a unique light on the parallels between development-cum-participative communication and corporate social responsibility. In our globalized environments, knowledge of power, culture and the colonial histories that influence and shape business and governance practices are increasingly important. Focusing on six countries—Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam— the book discusses how PR and CSR discourse are constructed, interpreted, communicated and enacted in this diverse emerging region. By connecting the disparate disciplines of participatory and development communication with public relations and corporate social responsibility discourse, this innovative text explores the tensions between concepts of modernity and traditional values and their role in engendering creativity, compliance or resistance. This book will be of interest to researchers, educators and advanced students in the fields of public relations, communication, corporate social responsibility, corporate communications and South East Asia studies.

This slim volume hits hard at one major point: public relations practitoners need to abandon their dominant attitude of narrowly serving the needs of their clients and instead attempt to engender a broad-based sense of community. By approaching public relations from this broader perspective both the needs of the client and the community are served. Implicit in this theory is that a closer-knit community will retain more traditional family-based values and therefore comprise a more stable and appreciative economic unit for one's client. Canadian Journal of Communication Public relations is commonly viewed as using persuasive communications to achieve a client's vested goal. Kruckeberg and Starck challenge this oversimplified approach, asserting that public relations is a complex, multi-flow process that should--and can--affect society as a whole. In Part I, they examine critically the historical definition and practice of public relations, outlining the shortcomings of this narrow approach. Part II explores how the community itself has changed. Such issues as the shift from rural to urban life and the attempt to regain a sense of community are discussed. Part III attempts to reconcile the authors' new notion of public relations and community through an in-depth case-study. The results lead the authors to conclude that only if public relations is practiced as an active attempt to build a sense of community can it become a full partner in the communications milieu.

This slim volume hits hard at one major point: public relations practitoners need to abandon their dominant attitude of narrowly serving the needs of their clients and instead attempt to engender a broad-based sense of community. By approaching public relations from this broader perspective both the needs of the client and the community are served. Implicit in this theory is that a closer-knit community will retain more traditional family-based values and therefore comprise a more stable and appreciative economic unit for one's client. Canadian Journal of Communication Public relations is commonly viewed as using persuasive communications to achieve a client's vested goal. Kruckeberg and Starck challenge this oversimplified approach, asserting that public relations is a complex, multi-flow process that should--and can--affect society as a whole. In Part I, they examine critically the historical definition and practice of public relations, outlining the shortcomings of this narrow approach. Part II explores how the community itself has changed. Such issues as the shift from rural to urban life and the attempt to regain a sense of community are discussed. Part III attempts to reconcile the authors' new notion of public relations and community through an in-depth case-study. The results lead the authors to conclude that only if public relations is practiced as an active attempt to build a sense of community can it become a full partner in the communications milieu.

"From the start, women were central to a century of westward migration in the U.S. Community Building and Early Public Relations: Pioneer Women's Role on and after the Oregon Trail offers a path forward in broadening PR's Caucasian/White male-gendered history in the U.S. Undergirded by humanist, communitarian, critical race theory, social constructionist perspectives, and a feminist communicology lens, this book analyzes U.S. pioneer women's lived experiences, drawing parallels with PR's most basic functions--relationship building, networking, community building, boundary spanning, and advocacy. Using narrative analysis of diaries and reminiscences of women who travelled 2,000+ miles on the Oregon Trail in the mid-to-late 1800s, Pompper uncovers how these women filled roles of Caretaker/Advocate, Community Builder of Meeting Houses and Schools, served a Civilizing Function, offered Agency and Leadership, and provided Emotional Connection for Social Cohesion. Revealed also is an inevitable paradox as Caucasian/White pioneer women's interactional qualities made them complicit as colonizers forever altering indigenous peoples' way of life. This book will be of interest to undergraduate and graduate PR students, PR practitioners, and researchers of PR history and social identity intersectionalities. It encourages us to expand the definition of PR to include community building and to revise linear timeline and evolutionary models to accommodate voices of women and people of color prior to the 20th century"--

Paradox in Public Relations: A Contrarian Critique of Theory and Practice is a thought-provoking exploration of public relations, aiming to promote changes in meaning and perception by creating new meta-realities for public relations. The term “Public Relations” was embraced by early practitioners primarily because it sounded more professional than the often-pejorative alternatives. This book argues for a reframing of some of the popular realities associated with modern-day public relations and uses psychological and organizational change theory to critique paradoxes in public relations theory and practice. By examining public relations through the lens of paradox, we can begin to identify the logical fallacies that have inhibited progress and innovation in public relations practice and theory. The book explores the paradoxical nature of key concepts, including public interest, relationship management, accountability, stewardship, loyalty, community, and ethics. It also recommends new conceptualizations for understanding the field. This book will be of interest to media, communication, public relations, and advertising faculty and graduate students, particularly those interested in public relations theory and ethics. Scholars from other disciplines can also use this exploration of paradox in PR as a learning tool for identifying logical fallacies and inconsistencies.

While public relations practitioners have long focused on the relationship between organizations and their stakeholders, there has never been a time when that relationship was so dominated by public participation. The new model of multiple messages originating from multiple publics at varying levels of engagement is widely acknowledged, but not widely explored in scholarly texts. The established model of one-way communication and message control no longer exists. Social media and an increasingly participatory culture means that fans are taking a more active role in the production and co-creation of messages, communication, and meaning. These fans have significant power in the relationship dynamic between the message, the communicator, and the larger audience, yet they have not been defined using current theory and discourse. Our existing conceptions fail to identify these active and engaged publics, let alone understand virtual communities who are highly motivated to communicate with organizations and brands. This innovative and original research collection attempts to address this deficit by exploring these interactive, engaged publics, and open up the complexities of establishing and maintaining relationships in fan-created communities.

Unleash Your Secret Weapon for Restoring Trust: Open, Honest Communications! Most PR books tell you how to “spin” your message. People are sick of that! Spin Sucks will teach you how to communicate honestly, responsibly, openly, and authentically…and truly earn the trust of your customers, stakeholders, investors, and communities. Top PR thought leader and blogger Gini Dietrich runs the number one PR blog in the world, spinsucks.com, where she shares cutting-edge tips and tools for effective, ethical communications. Now, she’s integrated all she’s learned into a complete, actionable guide for every business leader who understands there are new rules to communications, but don’t know what to do. No matter what your organization does, Dietrich will help you: Share your story more powerfully—without sex, extortion, or “truth-stretching” Humanize your organization, even if you don’t have outsized personalities Tell the truth, using the best techniques honed by centuries of storytellers Overcome whisper campaigns, anonymous attackers, and trolls Create fresh, honest content that’s compelling to both humans and Google Systematically prepare yourself to engage more successfully online Clarify and close gaps between your message and your customer’s perception Celebrate your brand ambassadors Master seven steps for handling online criticism, and transforming critics into fans Keep others from stealing your great content Learn actionable lessons from others’ successes (and failures) Develop more positive, productive agency (or client) relationships Converge paid, owned, earned, and shared media—and get more value from all of them spinsucks.com