Discuss The Impact Of Internet On Public Relations

The impact of the Internet on the practice of public relations has been subject to considerable discussion in the existing literature.

Much has been written about the communication revolution brought about by the Internet and the implications thereof for the public relations practitioner. It has been argued by Castells (2000) that while there are wide disparities in the penetration of the Internet with North America leading the globe with 77.4% of its population using the Internet (http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm), the medium itself has had more impact on society and organisations than previously invented communication channels like the television or the radio.

According to Castells (2000), since the consumers of the Internet

Many studies (Bobbitt, 1995; Cowlett, 1999; Kiloran, 1999; Marken, 2000; Mickey, 1998) reviewed how important the Internet is towards the field of public relations, and why those public relations practitioners are adopting the Internet as a primary public relations medium in the mod-ern age.

Why the Internet is becoming a popular public relations tool. As Hill and White (2000) identified, the World Wide Web is becoming a significant communica-tions tool for businesses and organizations. They proposed, “Web sites are used to keep stake-holders up-to-date, provide information to the media, gather information about publics, strength-en corporate identity, and a host of other public relations functions” (p.46). In fact, the three ma-jor entities in public relations – media, corporations, and publics – may be linked by the structural opportunities that websites provide. Certainly, these features, in addition to the relatively low cost, are reasons the Internet has developed so rapidly as a public relations tool, and should emerge as superior to other tools in the near