Think Digital!!

Do we really need to rely so much on Journalists to get all the latest gossip, news and latest trends??......

My answer to that is, take a look at the Oscar Pistorious trial for an example which took place last year. Before I even had to watch my 7 pm news to get the headlines of the court case, it was trending over my timeline so “No” I did not have to wait till  evening to hear what the journalist had to report, because I had heard it ALL already.

Don’t get me wrong, as much as Digital media does allows the public to get all the information one may need, Journalists are also essential to us because their job requires them to provide an honest service to the public, therefore the news they deliver is defiantly more reliable than the news one may get on social media.

However my argument here is that, PR Practitioners do not necessarily have to rely so much on Journalists to get all the information they may need. Reason I say this is because Social Media allows Practitioners to maintain ongoing, quality relationships with the media, influencers despite where one is based. When Practitioners use digital media more time is saved, than having to go through the whole process of setting up an appointment with a Journalist whom also might not be available to have the meeting as soon as you may need to.

Reasons to use Digital Media:

·         Flexibility- It does not only have text sources but also includes sound, Images and Videos. 

·         Interactivity- The fact that you engage online, it allows you to interact with a large audience.

·         Accessibility- As long as your network is great and you have paid a fee for example at the café, then one is able to access most information.

For PR Practitioners to only rely on Journalists for all the facts and information they may need is risky, it could cause the research process to slowdown. Therefore Digital Media might be more beneficial … like we all know the saying that goes “Time Is Money” 

All I’m saying is don’t be old-fashioned let’s move right along with technology else you will be left behind.