v-Fluence Blog

Behold: The Power of Blogs

Growing up in the digital age, I've never been fazed by the ever-increasing capabilities and myriad functions of the Internet. As long as I can remember, the Internet has been a part of my life, from instant messaging with my friends in junior high and high school to researching information for projects and papers in college. That said, when I attended Ragan Communication's 10th annual Strategic Public Relations Conference,I was utterly amazed to hear how influential blogs have become and how they have truly transformed the journalism and public relations industries.

As it stands, approximately 30 percent of Net users read blogs regularly. And while readership may still be in its infancy, there are more than 60 million blogs and roughly 1,000,000 new blog entries posted everyday. In a session, Jennifer McClure from the Society for New Communication Research was quick to note that blogging has become so popular and influential that journalists can no longer keep up with bloggers, and, now, actually rely on them for up-to-the minute news and information.

As many of the seminar speakers were eager to illustrate, gone are the days in which PR professionals can expect journalists to rely on them as a primary source for news relating to the companies and organizations they represent. Now, instead of reading news releases and calling media relations staff to generate story ideas, PR pros can expect journalists to hit the blogosphere for new and interesting stories, as well as alternative angles on news items that are already being covered in the mainstream media. And if PR professionals are not monitoring or engaging in those postings, they risk more than just a missed opportunity.

This new dynamic means that bloggers now have the power to promote and, more important, obliterate a company's public relations efforts, sometimes even before the company knows there's a problem. Large, well-known companies, such as Kryptonite, Dell and FedEx, have all taken huge hits, whether it be financial or otherwise, from the blogosphere because they were not adamantly keeping tabs on the influential blogs that cover their products and industry.

After spending the day listening to seminars about blogs and the changing practices of public relations, I felt especially grateful to work for a company like v-Fluence, one that places great value on professional development and the need to stay on top of, even ahead of, technology trends that affect the industry. Its organizational structure alone, a predominantly virtual environment, shows just how willing the company is to embrace and adapt to technological advances. The company's motto says it all, it starts online!

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