Public relations in the digital era: New methods and tools

Abstract

The beginning of the 21st century marked an evolutionary "leap" in Internet technology - the transition from static web pages whose content was determined solely by their creator to dynamic, interactive user-created web pages and the emergence and proliferation of social networks as a special and multi-purpose cyber info-sphere. In such a new and dynamic environment, naturally the need for new ways of functioning of public relations has emerged, finding new approaches and methods that would successfully fit into the new digital environment and take advantage of all the newly created potential. This next evolutive stage of the Internet - Web 2.0 brought interactive access web-pages, blogs, social networks/media, targeted advertising and pod-casts have become new and vital fields of contemporary PR. The new interactive technologies have enabled not only more accurate identification of target groups but also direct access to the collection of unimaginable quantity and quality of data that describes not only groups but individuals as well. This quantum leap in knowledge of target audiences made possible more precise "tailoring" of messages for each of them, thus dramatically increasing the effectiveness of these messages. This paper will analyze the principles, functions and possibilities of modern digital public relations, the methods and tools for it`s application as well as practical examples.