Building a case for public relations

The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) is showing off its redesigned website. The association is using the opportunity to promote a new advocacy campaign for the PR industry, "The Business Case for Public Relations." PRSA leaders explained why they are undertaking this venture:

Public relations is more vital than ever before, given the explosion of consumer engagement through new and social media, the collapse of reputation and trust in major institutions and the evolving needs and concerns of corporate CEOs. At the same time, though, the industry continues to suffer criticism at the hands of individuals who do not understand the practice and application of public relations.

The new campaign and website offer public relations practitioners tools and resources to take their work -- and the industry -- to the next level. Read more here.


Tags: PRSA, Public Relations, PR, Media by Sistrunk

Social networking, blogging now more popular than email

Social networking and blogging have now exceeded email as the most popular online activities. That's the conclusion of a recent report released by Nielsen. According to the study, Global Faces and Networked Places(pdf), search and destination sites remain the most popular online activities.

Nielsen says that "two-thirds of the world’s Internet population visit social networking or blogging sites, accounting for almost 10% of all Internet time." The report went on to say that personal email has become "the world’s fourth most popular online sector after search, portals and PC software applications." The rankings are reflected in the chart above (courtesy Nielsen Online).

The total amount of time spent on Facebook rose by 566% -- from 3.1 billion minutes to 20.5 billion minutes. It's the ninth most popular brand online. Facebook also had the highest average time spent online per person -- averaging 3 hours, 10 minutes per person.

Nielsen attributes the rise of social networks in 2008 to Facebook alone. The report says that Facebook has replaced MySpace as the world's most popular social network.

People aged 35-49 years old represented the greatest growth in its number of audience numbers, with 24.1 million, followed by 13.6 million visitors aged 50-64, and 7.3 million under 18 year old.

Will we see marketers kicking email to the curb? I don't think so. However, this study does provide some great PR for social nets.

Related: Social Nets and Blogs More Popular Than E-Mail