How Social Media Influenced Public Relations

Abstract

Public Relations throughout history has been isolated to the communication between people and companies trying to get their message across to their consumers. This type of communication evolved over time with the birth of radio and television. Companies were able to reach a larger audience. It was no different with the rise of social media. The difference was in the type of communication that was created. The type of communication was changed from one-way to two-way and the response from the consumer became instantaneous. This paper shows how and why public relations evolved over the years in response to social media. Through secondary research and an original interview, I will show how social media changed how companies must now interact with their audience. Companies can no longer ignore the impact and usefulness of social media. I will also show how influencers impacted the public relations industry. The results of this paper clearly show that to remain relevant, companies must use influencers and the various social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter in order to engage their audience.