CHAPTER
ONE
1.0
Introduction
1.1
Background to the Study
Advancement
in modern technology which resulted in building computer/internet in short
information and communication technology (ICT) in the late 20th century and
with more powerful and sophisticated ones in this 21th century which has
transformed the world into a global village as postulated by a Canadian English
professor, Marshal McLuhan.
This
new technology has compressed the whole world into a single electronic to where
information about far and near can be exchanged and shared with just a click of
mouse.
Internet
being the host of many other media tagged socio-media like: Facebook, Twitter,
Youtube, Ebay, Ebuddy, Eskimi, 2go, Yahoo, Google e.t.c making information
distribution faster, cheaper and easier. The arrival of this information and
communication technology has affected and the usual shapes of every human
activities ranging from education to agriculture, business, mass communication,
politics, health.
However,
the practice of public relation is not exceptional as ICT has influenced the
PRS being practice in this century.
Carrying
out project work relating to the effect of social media on the practice of PRS
will lead to the definition of ‘core word’ like public relations from different
perspectives.
According
to the Institute
of Public Relations, “public
relations is a deliberate planned and sustained effort to establish and
maintain mutual understanding between an organization and its various publics.
Therefore, there is no gain saying in
the fact that, the practice of PR in this century has moved from manual to the
digital public relations.
Digital
public relations or an e-public relation is the latest concept in corporate
reputation management.
It
is the practice of public relations through the new ICT, it is an innovation
concept that is computer mediated, yet it is cheaper.
Today
organization and clients are making greater demand as on public relations
professionals that are more ICT creative, more innovation and more efficiency
in service delivery.
1.2
Statement of the Problem
The
major concern of this project work is to access how social media such as
Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, 2go e.t.c can enhance the practice of public
relations especially in creating and maintain mutual understanding for better
interaction.
It
is also the interest of the research to examine cost effectiveness, speedy
delivery of message and see how public relations can translate the social media
into feedback and opinion media.
1.3
Purpose of the Study
1.
To
investigate the potential roles of social-media in modern practice of public
relations.
2.
To
study the differences and similarity in terms of cost, and effectiveness while
using social media and traditional media for message dissemination.
3.
To
examine the public response attitude towards the social-media message.
4.
To
investigate whether the socio-media are suitable for public relations practice.
5.
To
show the strength and weakness of socio-media as a public relations tool.
1.4
Research Questions
- Does Glo use social media in communication and sharing of ideas?
- To what extent has social media helped Glo in solving problems and complaints from its various publics?
- Has social media enhanced the performance of public relations department of Glo?
- What are the strength and weakness of socio-media as a public relations tool?
1.5 Significance of the Study
The study is to reveal how
socio-media can be translated into a power tools in the hand of innovated and
creative public relations especially in building public confidence and
effective interaction.
1.6
Scope of the Study
This
research focuses on the effect of social-media on the practices of public
relations with a reference to the global communication Nigeria especially public relations
and customer care departments.
1.7
Limitation of the Study
Research work like this cannot
be carried out examine all organization and that is why the work is limited
only to the global communication Nigeria.
Limitation
is also posed by the few literature that is ready available for this study
since the work is new.
Time
factor is another hindrance as attention is needed for other academic
activities. Lack of fund to travel frequently to the Glo office in Lagos.
