James E. Grunig, Professor Emeritus Department of Communication University of Maryland College Park, Maryland, USA

 As of June 30, 2009, there were 1,668,870,408 internet users in the world—24.7% of the population. ( accessed Sept. 4, 2009)  There were 704,213,930 users in Asia—18.5% of the Asian population and 42.2% of the users in the world.  Internet use in the world grew 362.2% from 2000 to 2009, 516.1% in Asia.  On December 31, 2008, there were 298 million internet users in China, 22% of the population, with an annual growth rate of 41.9%). ( China Internet Network Information Center, The 23 rd Statistical Survey Report on the Internet Development in China, January 2009)  China has more internet users than any country in the world, surpassing the USA in (CNN.com, January 14, 2009)

 51% are responsible for digital communications.  49% for blogging.  48% for social networking.  52% for microblogging (such as text messaging, instant messaging, and Twittering). (iPressroom, Tendstream, PRSA, and Korn/Ferry International, 2009 Digital Readiness Report), as reported in PR News [prnewsonline.com], August 17, 2009)

 Messages received by publics can be controlled by public relations practitioners.  Publics can be created and “targeted.”  Publics can be persuaded—i.e., their cognitions, attitudes, and behaviors can be controlled through asymmetrical communication.  Images, reputations, brands, impressions or similar names used to describe cognitive representations can be “managed.”

 Members of publics have always controlled the messages to which they are exposed.  Publics create themselves around problems their members face in life situations—stakeholders define their stakes in organizations.  Two-way symmetrical communication is more effective than asymmetrical communication in building organization-public relationships.  Reputations, images, and similar concepts are what members of different publics think and say to each other, not something controlled by an organization.  These cognitive representations are a by-product of organizational decisions and behaviors, active communication with publics, and the quality of organization-relationships.

 Members of publics are less constrained by the information traditional media choose to make available.  New media make it possible for members of publics, and journalists, to seek information from many sources, anywhere in the world.  Members of publics can interact with each other, and publics can interact with organizations and other publics whenever they want.  Through publics relations, organizations can join the conversations within and among publics.  These conversations may, or may not, include journalists online and in the traditional media.

 Communicators typically use a new medium in the same way they used existing media. ◦ Television showed broadcasters reading the same stories they read on radio. ◦ Public relations practitioners first used the internet as an information dump, in the same way they produced publications (Web 1.0 rather than 2.0).  New media can be used for all four models of public relations: press agentry, public information, two-way asymmetrical, and two- way symmetrical.

 A messaging, publicity, informational, media- relations function? ◦ Publications, news, communication campaigns, media contacts.  A marketing function? ◦ Support for marketing through media publicity?  A strategic management function? ◦ Active participant in decision making? ◦ Research-based, organizational listening and learning? ◦ Building relationships for other functions, including marketing?

 The symbolic, interpretive, paradigm vs. the behavioral, strategic management, paradigm.  Both paradigms existed in the history of public relations, are practiced today, and are competing for the future of the profession.  Public relations cannot take full advantage of the digital revolution if it is practiced under the interpretive rather than the strategic management paradigm.

 Public relations manages how publics interpret the organization—to buffer the organization from its environment.  These interpretations include popular concepts such as image, identity, impressions, reputation, and brand.  Emphasis is on publicity, media relations, and media effects.  Views the effects of public relations as changes in cognitive representations, as the negotiation of meaning.

 Public relations participates in strategic decision- making to help manage the behavior of the organization.  Public relations is a bridging activity to build relationships with stakeholders rather than a set of messaging activities designed to buffer the organization from stakeholders.  Emphasis is on two-way and symmetrical communication of many kinds to provide publics a voice in management decisions and to facilitate dialogue between management and publics.  Views effects as changes in behavior, as the negotiation of behavior.

Excellent public relations is  Managerial.  Strategic.  Integrated but not sublimated to other management functions.  Symmetrical.  Diverse.  Ethical.  Global.

Organizational Reputation Management Decisions Communication Programs ( Relationship Cultivation Strategies) Issues Achievement of Organizational Goals Crises Relationship Outcomes Consequences Behavior of Publics Creates Model of Strategic Management of Public Relations: New Media Can Be Used at Each Stage of the Model Stakeholders Publics P1PiP2 No Consequences

 Environmental scanning and rumor control.  Segmentation of stakeholders and publics based on problems, issues, values, concepts, and ideologies.  Anticipating and dealing with issues and crises.  Identifying and evaluating the type and quality of relationships with and among publics.  Measuring reputation (“Reputation and brand increasingly depend on what comes up when you are Googled,” David Phillips and Phillip Young, Online Public Relations, 2009).  Implementing communication programs—e.g., employee relations and media relations.  Formative and evaluative research for communication programs.

 The decisions, behaviors, and actions of an organization are transparent to internet users anywhere in the world: Corporate social responsibility is no longer a choice.  When an organization participates in conversations with publics, ethically it must disclose its name and interests. ◦ For example, fake blogs (flogs or flack blogs) and other camouflaged participation in the dialogue are unethical.

 Shifting the public relations paradigm from a symbolic interpretive approach to a strategic, behavioral approach is crucial in a global, digital world. ◦ For organizations to be effective. ◦ To cultivate relationships in societies and globally. ◦ To reduce conflict.  The digital media provide new tools for public relations that facilitate this paradigm shift.