There has been much discussion about how new technologies, mainly the Internet, have dramatically impacted media and communications. The world's greatest newspapers and other traditional media outlets are rethinking their business models and struggling to redefine their value propositions. Although the public relations industry lives in the same information enviorment that is impacting the news media, there has been considerably less attention paid to how these same forces have impacted the field of PR.
What we do today, and how we do it, is radically different from the approaches of past decades. Below are ten trends that have and will continue to alter the way we go about our business.
1. News is Instantaneous--This impacts when and how we release information and our ability to shape discussions.
2. Third parties have greater influence than ever--The number of NGOs has increased from a handful to well over a million, creating a watchdog culture. Their voices--big or small--do influence events and opinions.
3. Numbers of news outlets have exploded--The number of television channels in most people's homes has gone from less than a dozen to several hundred or more, offering more choices, but also creating Information overload.
4. Misinformation can proliferate--Inaccurate information can spread as quickly and as forcefully as fact-based news.
5. Misdeeds are magnified-- In today's transparent world, there is no longer such a thing as a little mistake.
6. Stellar financial performance doesn't give you a "free pass"---Top executives have a broad portfolio of responsibilities. Hard financial deliverables go hand in hand with the need for executives to recognize their responsibility as global corporate citizens and managers.
7. Doing good is good business--- Corporate responsibility has become fundamental to a company's reputation.
8. Reputation spills over into product decisions---Customers, and employees, ar epyaing more attention to the ethics of business. Furthermore, the reputational landscape of an industry, as well as of a company, can have major impact on the success of an individual product or project.
9. The business day is global and seamless---Agencies are expected to be "on call" not only via Blackberry beyond normal business hours, but also via other offices to provide round-the-clock counsel for a "flat" world.
10. PR has a seat at the table---Public relations is recognized more than it has been in the past as important to the well being of organizations and their leaders.
Our work has become more complex with a varied skill set and the dedication of many more hours committed to our jobs. It's no longer enough to issue a press release and wait until the next day to read your story in the newspaper. 
Forget about scheduling a
conference call with reporters several hours after a release is issued. Wires and online channels will have multiple stories just minutes after the
news is issued. The life cycle of news has changed. News is reported one day, commented upon the next, then bloggers and other new media may keep it alive for weeks or months. Cable news, e-newspapers, blogs, even e-mail campaigns, all contribute to a cacophony of swirling, often competing voices. This means more opportunity to get stories into the mainstream but also to expose news to criticism. Consider the story of the airline Jet Blue, when inclement weather led to massive delays, leaving passengers stranded for hours on planes going nowhere. This might have been a transient story if not for the impact of hundreds of bloggers who created a viral effect that undermined the company's managment.
We Live in Glass Houses
In years past, small legal infractions or ethical lapses might have gone under the radar. Today top executives operate in a world far more transparent, where ethical implications of every move are scrutinized and where leadership skills are constantly tested. With more public information, many more groups have strong and active opinions about what is in the best interest of a business's stakeholders. There is more volatility than in the normal rhythm of business today. Short-term performance flaws and mistakes become highly visible, and it is more vital than ever for public relations to build relationships and react to the people and organizations behind these many voices.
One Person With A Computer
Because messages can be instantly communicated worldwide, critics have the ability to spread negative information rapidly. Factual information about a client's activities and performance can be disseminated quickly via the Internet and other globala media, but so can misinformation. Anyone with a computer can now become a source of news. Take the Coca-Cola India example. The one-person NGO Global Resistance made the unsubstantiated charge on its website that Coca-Cola's bottling plants were draining and polluting local water supplies in India. Global Resistance became the central figure in a global campaign that has cost Coca-Cola millions of dollars in lost sales and legal fees in India and growing damage to its reputation across the globe.
Today it's not only Wall Street that is interested in a company's performance. Customers, employees, policymakers, and the general public are also watching closely partly because they can, and partly because they care. And their primary concern is not always financial performance. Keeping your head down and delivering on the numbers is not enough. With more stakeholders paying attention, the kind of performance that comes under scrutiny has been extended as the ability to build trust among all these stakeholders has become paramount.
Global Citizenship And Its Responsibilities
Leaders are expected to drive sound values, commitement to ethical behavior and strong goverance into their organization. A CEO's reputation may always be partly grounded in his or her ability to deliver soldi financial performances, but this alone no longer makes them bullet-proof. When Siemens found itself embroiled in dubious business practices, facing accusations of many managers being involved in bribing foreign officials to win contracts, chief executive Klaus Kleinfeld was forced out by the Siemens board, despite the fact that Kleinfeld had not been directly linked to the scandal. Moreover, Kleinfeld had been seen as a paragon of Germany's modern top manager, had spent his career at Siemens, and had turned in strong performance with the company's share price rising nearly 50 percent during his tenure.
Similarly, companies are more aware of the reputational impact of "sustainability"---a new phrase defined as managing a company for the long term. Institutional investors are steadily being won over to the idea that social, environmental, or economic sustainability is a legitimate tool in managing a company and its reputation. As Novartis chairman and CEO Daniel Vasella said in a recent speech, "It is definitely accepted that companies must be competitive and generate a profit or they will cease to exist. But as a global company, we are also a global citizen with responsibilities toward the society in which we live and work. In my view, it does not matter if we act driven by empathy or so-called enlightened self-interest. In the end, what matters is what we actually do and what we omit to do."
Indeed, there is emerging evidence of a correlation between financial performance and corporate social performance. A recent analysis by The Financial Times of 95 different studies found that those that revealed a positive correlation between social and financial eprformance outnumbered those that indicated a negative one by a nine to one margin. Indices like the Dow Dones Sustainability Index and the FTSE4Good Incides indicate the positive long-term earnings potential for companies with a focus on value.
Customers and employees as well are either attracted to or repelled by a company's ethical behavior. In this media-saturated age a business’s visible engagement in its communities is much more likely to penetrate the consciousness of people who in previous years might have paid them scant attention. According to the Natural Marketing Institute, about 63 million Americans, with a purchasing power of more than $227 billion, pay close attention to corporate behavior, and almost one third say they don’t purchase a product when they question its corporate values. A 2004 Cone Corporate Citizenship Study found that 75 percent of respondents said they would not work at a company that exhibited bad corporate behavior. Sixty-seven percent said they would be less loyal to an employer who behaved unethically.
Today an executive’s portfolio of responsibilities has increased, the number of stakeholders paying attention has multiplied, and the speed and volume of information has exploded, leading the way for public relations to assume a higher position and a greater voice in company strategy. The fact is that, in 2008, public relations is a critical factor in driving business success.
This article originally was originally posted on www.odwyerpr.com.