Have Real Life Informants been swapped for Virtual Information?

In reading this chapter I came across the section about informants.  An informant, as described by Babbie, is someone who knows about the social group you are trying to study and can tell you about it.  The key ingredient here is that an informant is an actual person.

This stunned me because although this is true, PR professionals and almost anyone 'who wants to know anything about anybody' has taken the personal attribute out of the meaning of informant. 

Everything is done virtually through Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn,YouTube, or any other social media outlet.  If we want to know something, we will get it- sometimes without the informant even knowing we are paying attention!

J Public Relations is a company I would LOVE to work for so I have been following their Blog when I can.  One entry written by Sarah Evans, dated March 18, 2010, "Twitter and PR- It's Complicated" directly displays this exact social media phenomenon.

Sarah states, "I recall not even a year and a half ago boldly (and proudly) proclaiming, "I’m not joining Twitter.”.....A year-and-a-half later, Twitter has become part of my everyday life. Through Twitter, I access breaking news, I connect with like-minded industry folks, I follow my favorite brands, I book travel, etc..... I love Twitter. There, I said it." 

This is true of most people I know, including myself!  Sometimes I secretly think about deleting my facebook page, but then laugh at the thought.

If our PR clients don't start using these social media sites to run with society, they're not going to fit in- or make money.  But what happens to the personal connection?  "Twitter is so incredibly valuable because it offers the opportunity for authentic, raw communication and conversation. Followers want to connect directly with the source, and feel duped if they’re communicating with anyone who’s not on the “inside,” so to speak."  This is true, however as a PR agency, we must inform our clients about all the social media outlets and also create a Twitter page that is user friendly with personal information on what is going on with our client rather than a general page.  Interaction and an engagement level with the social network user is what keeps them interested."

. Tweet . Tweet .

Satisfaction Measure

The article I found that relates to the book for this week's reading was a measurement of satisfaction in Malaysian hotels.  The hotel guests' perceptions of service quality provided by the hotel industry were lower than their expectations. The lowest expectations and perceptions were given by Malaysian hotel guests towards the hotels in Malaysia. Between Malaysian hotel guests and hotel guests from other Asian countries, there was no significant difference in the overall satisfaction levels for the sample as a whole.  The concept of service quality has been the subject of many research studies in variety of service industries; even the research attention towards hospitality industry has been growing.  As mentioned by Camison (1996), poorness or non-existence of customer satisfaction measuring systems could cause the hotel companies to be lacking in market orientation. Attributes of the service and product that add value for the customer and increase his or her satisfaction might be unknown and that gives no guide to the hotel operators for improvement projects.











Measuring service quality and customer satisfaction of the hotels in Malaysia: Malaysian, Asian and non-Asian hotel guests.

5 Musts For Effective Hospitality PR

This article is written by Charlotte Novom, President of Hollywood, CA based PR firm, Novom Marketing, who touches upon the fact that PR is changing and has a new face.

She stated that, "Public relations has a dramatic new face and the potential for driving even more dramatic revenue-producing results".  The dramatic results she is speaking of, however, are being achieved through extremely different, complex and changing ways. The veterens in this industry have to learn a whole new way of interacting with their audience and keep up media outlets, new social media sites, and interesting events that take place.

Chapter 4 in the book told us about units of analysis, which primarily are individuals, groups, an organization or social interactions.  I believe in this field of PR you have so many units of analysis because you are accomodating all types of people.  Each interactions and individual has a different experience.  In this article she wrote about what she thinks are the Five 'Musts' Public Relations Specialists must consider when engaging and creating an awesome PR campaign for a client.

5 Musts of Effective Hospitality PR

Restaurant PR at a Glance

What a restaurant PR plan should include. . . . .

The article I found talks about bringing new people in to dine at your restaurant. In my opinion it goes above and beyond.  It also includes different ways to get the same people to come back to your establishment.  

Once a restaurant opens for business, it's time to talk about ongoing PR for the restaurant. The ongoing public relations plan is one way to increase a restaurant's business and sales.  It includes a calander of events to get the word out and create a b u z z as well as press releases in different publications about events that have taken place and their outcomes.

Advertising you pay for and PR you pray for.  

You want to create news not ads that draw people in.  It goes above and beyond.

Keep Reading- Andrea