NPSC Blog

I have been looking through the results of Euroblog 2007, a survey of 409 PR professionals from 24 european countries asking how they use and perceive social media (called “social software” in the survey).

The results of the survey started me thinking about how social media is fundamentally changing our profession. It is, however, not just this survey that leads me to this conclusion, rather the survey confirms a growing suspicion that the game is changing. The authors of the survey note that the sample is non-representative, acknowledging that

there is a bias towards professionals with higher education and those working in hi-tech and consulting…therefore we can assume that a significant proportion of the sample are early adopters of new (technological and social) trends.

So perhaps rather than seeing the results as indicative of our own working environment, they might better be interpreted as a look at what the future holds for us.

What role will social media play in our professional future? According to the respondents, 89% agreed or strongly agreed that in a few years social software will be as widespread and integrated into communications as websites are today, while only 20% thought that social software is overhyped and not relevant to their business. (Where do you fit into this picture?)

The uses of social software was particularly telling, especially when compared against the results from the previous year:

The authors draw from this that

…many professionals now regard weblogs as part of their daily routine…PR professionals are more active (than last year) in their engagement with social media, with half commenting on other blogs.

They go on to note that only 7% never read blogs, down from 25% last year, highlighting their perceived relevance. European PR professionals are reading blogs primarily for environmental scanning (81%), fast reaction time to issues (74%), an opportunity for authentic, personal communications (77%) and to receive feedback from their audience (73%).

Drilling down into what tools the respondents use on a daily basis to monitor social media also yields some interesting results:

These results certainly resonate when filtered through our experience here. How may of us have access to RSS readers? And of those who do, how many rely on them to the same extent that the europeans who responded to the survey do?

I pose these questions because I believe that we are undergoing a profound and fundamental shift in the way that we operate. All of us are being forced to learn new skills, adapt to new technologies and think differently about the core functions of our profession. It is an exciting time.

This was confirmed when I read a whitepaper by James Clark and Jason Cormier, Fire your PR Firm [PDF 127KB], where the authors include a job description for what they describe as a ‘Conversation Analyst,’ a PR professional who specialises in social media:

Must have mainstream media experience as a journalist or communications practitioner. Strong social and analytical capabilities. Has experience with and enthusiasm for blogging, podcasting, RSS feeds, tagging, wikis, e-mail publishing, web analytics, cross-campaign management, adserving, affiliate marketing and online news aggregators. Has maintained a personal or corporate blog for at least one year. Has managed pay-per-click search marketing campaigns across Google, Yahoo, Looksmart, and other services. Can read and understand web analytics and tell a client with confidence what market to speak to. Applicants please submit a brief resume with links to your current and past sites or blogs, as well as your del.icio.us bookmarks. HTML skills required.

I quote it in full because I think that it perfectly captures the changing face of public affairs. Yes, this is still a professional niche, but if the figures in the Euroblog survey and the growing importance of the Internet as a communications channel are any guide –and I believe they are– then this niche will rapidly expand to cover a significant amount of our professional territory.

How prepared are you for this shift? Do you rate it is important, or are you one of the 7% that never reads blogs (except this one, naturally) and thinks the whole social media thing is just hype and the excited babble of technophiles and socially inept early adopters?