Buckle up PR pros: 2011 promises an intense ride on the social media roller coaster
The avenues for dispensing information will multiply, so communicators of all stripes will need to understand and manage numbers as well as words.
In 2011 the hunger for information will grow in intensity, and how it’s consumed will grow in complexity. PR pros will have to deepen their understanding of social media beyond the “shiny new toy” it was in 2010.
“PR professionals will be expected to consume information faster than ever before. It’s just the speed of doing business now,” says Arik Hanson, principal of ACH Communications in Minneapolis. “It means you have to work smarter, not harder.”
Hanson suggested that using effective online tools, such as RSS and news feed readers, will be crucial to keeping up with the information flow.
Though social media will continue to play an important role in all the information sharing, at least one PR pro thinks we are already seeing some numbers plateau.
“I’ve noticed that trend in organizations, mine included,” says Angela Minicuci, communications coordinator for the Michigan Association of Counties in Lansing. “Fans and followers are becoming harder to find, and online social spaces are developing more niches.”
Minicuci says that just browsing the home page of tech news site such as Mashable shows a focus on buzzwords like “optimize,” “personalize” and “integrate.”
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