Sociological Public Relations
There are tons of social networks on the Web. Tons.
As a PR practitioner, I can look at these various networks as resources and brand conversation opportunities. Full of people who are connecting for a purpose and open to meeting like-minded or interested individuals who understand why they’re there in the first place.
As a (structural functionalist) sociological thinker, I can look at social networks as nebulous, fragmented subgroups integrating themselves into the societal population on the Web in meaningful ways. It’s the idea of organic holism–each network is a functional organ in the overall body of the social Web.
If we combine these two ideas, I think we get something really powerful. Function, connectedness, purpose, opportunity. The more we understand and live up to the social, human aspects of public relations on the Web, the bigger and better our opportunities will become.
A noun is a person, place, thing or idea, right?
Public relations, n.
Which is it?
One Response to “Sociological Public Relations”
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Public relations is an abstract beast. In answer to your question, I want to call it a thing because it should and usually does have measurable outputs. However, it is also an abstract concept, AKA an idea. And although we do have our metrics, ideas aren’t always clear–especially in the developing realm of social media PR.
Is it possible that a holistic view negates or complicates metrics in someways? How do you quantify or qualify a meaningful relationship towards a brand or anything if that relationship is too nebulous to fully understand?
Oh, the wicked(ly confusing social) webs we weave.