Transcript YoungVilnius.

The use of weblogs
in public relations
and communication management
www.euroblog2006.org
Vilnius, August 26 2006
Philip Young, University of Sunderland, UK
Results of the first European Survey on
Weblogs in Public Relations and Communication Management
Why should I listen?
 Markets are conversations
 We are seeing the end of
‘command and control’ model
of PR
Results of the first European Survey on
Weblogs in Public Relations and Communication Management
Overview
 What are weblogs and social software?
 Results of EuroBlog2006
 Familiarity with Weblogs
 Monitoring of Weblogs / Usage of Weblogs
 Guidelines for Blogging
 Implementing Weblogs:
Limitations and Opportunities
 Implications for HE PROs
 Opportunities and challenges
 Internal and external
Results of the first European Survey on
Weblogs in Public Relations and Communication Management
The impact of new media
Results of the first European Survey on
Weblogs in Public Relations and Communication Management
What do new media users do?
Results of the first European Survey on
Weblogs in Public Relations and Communication Management
What is social software?
 Weblogs (blogs)
 My Space, SkyBlogs etc
 Podcasting
 Download Mp3s/ soundfiles
 Wikis
 Collaborative working
 Picture sharing
 FlickR etc
 Video sharing
 YouTube, Google etc
Results of the first European Survey on
Weblogs in Public Relations and Communication Management
How many bloggers are there?
 On July 31, 2006, Technorati tracked its 50
millionth blog.
Results of the first European Survey on
Weblogs in Public Relations and Communication Management
What is a blog?
 Two-dimensional
 Reverse chronological order
 Topical and Newsworthy
 Links + comments
 Aggregation
 Networking (conversations)
 Search engine visibility
 RSS + newsreaders
 Speed of messages
Results of the first European Survey on
Weblogs in Public Relations and Communication Management
Weblogs: a simple definition
1. reverse chronological order
2. expressive personal style
3. links to other blogs (trackback)
4. comments
Results of the first European Survey on
Weblogs in Public Relations and Communication Management
Who is blogging?
 About me: people who write about their daily
lives for micro-audience of friends and family
(online diaries)
 Focused interests (niche/ hobbyists): use blogs to
communicate with fellow enthusiasts/ with
shared experience. Amateurs and recreational
 Campaigning: political blogs, pressure group,
protests
Results of the first European Survey on
Weblogs in Public Relations and Communication Management
Who is blogging?
 Networking/ Education/ Development: to debate
professional subjects with fellow practitioners
 Personal marketing: to promote expertise to
clients, employers and others who can influence
their careers or businesses.
 Commercial: to promote goods and services; can
include employee blogs / blogs that encourage
customer participation
Results of the first European Survey on
Weblogs in Public Relations and Communication Management
Characteristics
 Informal style
 Spontaneous
 Media rich
 Sound
 Pictures
 Videos
Results of the first European Survey on
Weblogs in Public Relations and Communication Management
Same technology - works worldwide
1. reverse chronological order
2. expressive personal style
Results of the first European Survey on
3. links to other blogs (trackback)
Weblogs in Public Relations and Communication Management
4. comments
What is RSS?
 RSS = Really Simple Syndication
 Software checks RSS feeds and lets you read any
new articles that have been added to them
 Many versions - some use a browser, and some
of which are downloadable applications
Results of the first European Survey on
Weblogs in Public Relations and Communication Management
Rich Site Summary - Real Simple Syndication
1. Subscribe feed
2. automatic download
of new articles without
visiting website
3. full article with text,
links and comments
Results of the first European Survey on
Weblogs in Public Relations and Communication Management
Are you listening?
 Two types of conversation
 The messages that you want to put out …
Results of the first European Survey on
Weblogs in Public Relations and Communication Management
Do you want to listen?
 The conversation that is happening around your
university … whether you like it or not!
Results of the first European Survey on
Weblogs in Public Relations and Communication Management
Results of the first European Survey on
Weblogs in Public Relations
and Communication Management
www.euroblog2006.org
Philip Young, University of Sunderland, UK
Ansgar Zerfaß, University of Leipzig, Germany
Swaran Sandhu, University of Lucerne, S witzerland
Results of the first European Survey on
Weblogs in Public Relations and Communication Management
Aim of the survey
 to understand the spread, implementation and
usage of weblogs in public relations and
communication management in Europe
 familiarity with weblogs
 usage/monitoring of weblogs
 guidelines for weblogs
 implementation of weblogs
Results of the first European Survey on
Weblogs in Public Relations and Communication Management
Euroblog 2006: Background Information
 Duration: November 1st until December 16th 2005
 Participants: 587 PR professionals from 33 European
countries
 Method: self-recruiting online questionnaire with 25 items
 Sampling: national contact points across Europe for
distribution/dissemination of survey, self-recruiting snowball
 Statistics: SPSS analysis for univariate frequencies
 Financing: none: pro bono work by lead researchers and
national research partners
 Support/Affiliation: initiated and endorsed by Euprera
Results of the first European Survey on
Weblogs in Public Relations and Communication Management
Key Statistics / Demographics
Results of the first European Survey on
Weblogs in Public Relations and Communication Management
About the participants
 587 PR professionals from 33 European countries
 71% under 40 years old
 52% male, 47% female
 48% with academic degree in public
relations/communication management
 39% are in senior management position
(CEO, Senior Manager with budget/personnel responsibility)
 59% work in communication departments
(profit/not-for-profit companies)
 81% in departments with up to 10 persons
Results of the first European Survey on
Weblogs in Public Relations and Communication Management
Familiarity with Weblogs
Results of the first European Survey on
Weblogs in Public Relations and Communication Management
Familiarity and usage of weblogs
How familiar are you with weblogs?
How often do you use weblogs?
in the media/no active part
reading/commenting of weblogs
writing/contributing regularly,
running own weblog
 2/3 of the respondents are familiar with weblogs
 68% either write or read weblogs
 but only a third (36%) uses them weekly
n = 587
Results of the first European Survey on
Weblogs in Public Relations and Communication Management
Monitoring
of Weblogs
Results of the first European Survey on
Weblogs in Public Relations and Communication Management
Monitoring and RSS Feeds
n = 587
Results of the first European Survey on
Weblogs in Public Relations and Communication Management
Monitoring and RSS Feeds
experts
all participants
n = 587
Results of the first European Survey on
Weblogs in Public Relations and Communication Management
What weblogs are monitored?
n = 587 (all participants)
n = 122 (experts)
multiple answers possible
Results of the first European Survey on
Weblogs in Public Relations and Communication Management
What weblogs are monitored?
experts
all participants
n = 587 (all participants)
n = 122 (experts)
multiple answers possible
Results of the first European Survey on
Weblogs in Public Relations and Communication Management
Summary: Usage and Monitoring
 Clear split between expert users / all participants
 Knowledge of medium weblog increases the
willingness to monitor / engage in the
blogosphere
 Expert users use tools provided by the
blogosphere (RSS feeds) to monitor their
environment, mostly weblogs in their own
vicinity.
Results of the first European Survey on
Weblogs in Public Relations and Communication Management
Usage of Weblogs /
Guidelines for Blogging
Results of the first European Survey on
Weblogs in Public Relations and Communication Management
Usage of weblogs in organizations
Do you have a weblog in your organization?
..what kind?
n = 113
Results of the first European Survey on
Weblogs in Public Relations and Communication Management
Authors of Weblogs / Guidelines
Who runs the Weblog?
Do you have guidelines
for blogging?
n = 113
Results of the first European Survey on
Weblogs in Public Relations and Communication Management
Implementing Weblogs:
Limitations and Opportunities
Results of the first European Survey on
Weblogs in Public Relations and Communication Management
Plans to implement weblogs
 42% of the respondents without a weblog are
planning to implement a weblog within a year
 32% do not plan to implement a weblog
n = 428
Results of the first European Survey on
Weblogs in Public Relations and Communication Management
Factors for not implementing weblogs
n = 587, multiple answers possible
Results of the first European Survey on
Weblogs in Public Relations and Communication Management
Factors limiting the use of weblogs
more limiting
index scale: 1= most limiting, 5 least limiting
Results of the first European Survey on
Weblogs in Public Relations and Communication Management
Factors limiting the use of weblogs
more limiting
index scale: 1= most limiting, 5 least limiting
Results of the first European Survey on
Weblogs in Public Relations and Communication Management
Greatest opportunities for weblogs
more important
index scale: 1= greatest opportunity, 5 = not important
Results of the first European Survey on
Weblogs in Public Relations and Communication Management
How does this affect you?
Results of the first European Survey on
Weblogs in Public Relations and Communication Management
Implications for HE
 Potentially powerful promotional tool
 Internal as well as external
 Monitoring Conversations
 Good and Bad
 CONTROL
 You can’t!
 INFLUENCE
 You should/ must
Results of the first European Survey on
Weblogs in Public Relations and Communication Management
How do people find out about you?
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Search engines
Reputation forged in stars
Visibility
Credibility
Results of the first European Survey on
Weblogs in Public Relations and Communication Management
Should you blog?
 Be strategic
 What are you trying to achieve?
 Who should blog?
Results of the first European Survey on
Weblogs in Public Relations and Communication Management
Engaging with the Blogosphere
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Guidelines for staff
Guidelines for students
Who can say what to whom?
When?
With what purpose?
Results of the first European Survey on
Weblogs in Public Relations and Communication Management
About EuroBlog 2006
Results of the first European Survey on
Weblogs in Public Relations and Communication Management
About Euroblog 2006 and Euprera
 Euroblog 2006 is the first pan-European survey to
provide a comprehensive overview how
communication professionals are using weblogs and
for what purpose.
 The initiative is supported by EUPRERA, the
European Public Relations Education and Research
Association, a community of researchers from
universities and institutions from more than 30
countries.
➔ www.euroblog2006.org
➔ www.euprera.org
Results of the first European Survey on
Weblogs in Public Relations and Communication Management
Lead Researchers / Contact Persons
 Philip Young, M.A.
University of Sunderland, United Kingdom
[email protected]
 Prof. Dr. Ansgar Zerfass, Dipl.-Kfm., Dr. rer. pol. habil.
University of Leipzig, Germany
[email protected]
 Swaran Sandhu, Dipl. rer. com., M. Sc.
University of Lucern, Switzerland (from 09/2006)
[email protected]
Results of the first European Survey on
Weblogs in Public Relations and Communication Management