"New patterns"

             Chapter 4 of Share This focuses on the decline of traditional media. It discusses the rise of social media and how it affects the traditional news outlets of “the old days,” that is pre-2005.  How do we deal with this as PR practitioners? Do we forget journalists and put our energy into all other forms of media? These are good questions, but one part stood out to me, “But decline does not mean death: we are simply seeing new patterns of media production and consumption emerge.”

            Of course this is one of the truest statements about public relations today.  It reminded me of a story back in May about The Chicago Sun-Times laying off its photography staff in favor of freelance workers. A new “pattern[s] of media production.”

            How many photos from the Boston Marathon bombings were from citizen journalists? I remember looking at live news feeds that were less informative than the user generated content from eyewitnesses.

            So what does this mean for practitioners in the public relations field? What does it mean for the organizations who employ us? It means absolute transparency. Because now, in 2013, the media isn’t the only one looking critically at what you are doing. With the click of a mouse the consumer can find anything they want to know about your company and anyone can generate that content.

            If you aren’t acting transparently and maintaining constant contact with your public, anyone can tell them anything. That is the power of these “new patterns.”