PR Tactics and The Strategist Online 02-26-07 Study: 72 percent of PR pros don't monitor the blogosphere Feb.22, 2007 Preliminary results from a Kent State University/BurellesLuce survey shows that 72 percent of PR professionals do not have a formal system for monitoring the blogosphere. Only 19 percent say they do monitor blogs, according to William E. Sledzik, APR, Fellow PRSA, who wrote about some of the results on his blog, Toughsledding. Sledzik, associate professor/PR sequence coordinator at the Kent State University School of Journalism & Mass Communication, reviewed aggregate data from the survey that drew responses from 938 clients and prospects of BurrellesLuce, the media monitoring and analysis company. (Sledzik worked on the study with Jeanette Drake, Ph.D., APR, associate professor of public relations at Kent State.) Initial findings include:  * 72.3 percent of respondents say they have no formal procedure for monitoring the content of blogs that may impact their businesses. Another 8 percent aren't sure.  * 18.5 percent say they work for organizations that use their own blogs to facilitate communication with key stakeholders.  * Of the 18.5 percent of organizations that use blogs: 78.3 percent use blogs to connect with customers and end users; 42.8 percent to reach news media; 39.8 percent to communicate with employees.  * Of those who use blogs in their PR strategies: 63.2 percent use them to enhance branding efforts; 57.1 percent to facilitate two-way communication with key stakeholder groups; 46 percent to improve trust between those groups and the organization.  * 16.5 percent of respondents say they are aware of existing employee blogs that discuss work-related activities, but very few actually monitor those blogs. * 10.7 percent of respondents say they have a formal policy related to employee blogging. The final results will be discussed March 8-11 in Miami during the 10th Annual International Public Relations Research Conference. <- Back to: Single View