In his book PR! A Social History of Spin, Stuart Ewen covers nearly all of the bases of Public Relations up and to the date that the book was written and published. However, in order to revamp and really give the true spin on PR, Ewen needs to add in a massive part of today’s PR efforts. This major part being the availability of the Internet and what it has made possible. Social Networking and Viral Videos in particular.
Throughout the book, Ewen discusses the far reaching networks of Television and Newspapers that were prevalent at the time, but now it seems as though the day’s top news will be on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter or MySpace within minutes or hours of it happening. Which is faster than any news outlet can get it out to the public. Because of this timeliness and wide-spread viewership, PR is now much more dependent on the internet. Check out this video of PR on YouTube about Wells Fargo and a last resort method of Public Relations in a crisis:
You can check out Facebook accounts of some of the top celebrities, businesses, etc of today’s world and see just how they utilize social media and the internet for PR.
Once again, Ewen did a great job of covering the media that was strongest and most present at the time, as the idea of social networking could hardly be thought of in the 90′s; but I feel with the addition of this category and the talk of it in a more dominant fashion would really add to the book and meaning of PR.
Take any celebrity, company, athlete, etc…and put them on the spot about something, see them trying to save their image, and i bet it’s on Twitter and Facebook before it graces any magazine, newspaper, or nightly entertainment TV show. Just add Internet and Social Networking/Viral videos, and you make the History of Spin come full circle.
