Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Facebook's Blue

This week, it's all about New Media and its implications within the field of public relations.

Now, public relations concentrtes heavily on communication. With the advances of technology and the rise of new media, relationships can be built differently, and organisations can now communicate along more paths to their audiences and the public. For example, the internet allows PR practitioners to cast their net wider and faster. Many types of people use the internet, spanning the variants of age, race, countries, education, geographical location and socioeconomic factors.

But this rapid advancement of technology can hinder the progress of PR practitioners as well. For example, when using digital software or internet services, one must take into consideration the different systems, not all of which may be compatible. And with technology advancing so quickly, new technology often becomes old too soon, and PR practitioners have to keep up with this everchanging treadmill.

Another minefield that PR practitioners have to wade through is the legal and ethical arena. The new realm of new media comes fraught with areas for legal and ethical challenges. As such, PR practitioners should always disclose both their professional and personal interests.