Week 1 Reading Response

Week 1 Reading Report

After reading the book Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies, by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff, I have come to realize how people use techonologies and other networkings to reach others and also get what they want.

The Groundswell is “a social trend in which people use technologies to get things they need from each other, rather than from traditional institutions like corporations” (p.9). This is the foundation for the basic trend that is occurring due to the large amount of use of the internet. People are connecting with each other through various sites online. This is threatening to large companies and corporations.

The examples provided by Li and Bernoff explain how the images of companies can become tainted through what someone writes online, such as a blog. This phenomenon has changed the way people communicate with each other. The internet now provides a larger opportunity for people to openly express their opinions to one another, but also to keep in touch about events going on, as well as even protesting.

Since the internet has become such a popular way for a message to be sent to a mass amount of people, it is changing the way PR and PR practitioners now communicate with their publics. It is allowing practitioners to segment their publics and reach them by the masses at one time.

Technologies are constantly changing and being updated. Therefore, practitioners must be aware of these changes and learn about the newest means of communicating as well as the most effective. The challenge is not just learning about these new technologies, but rather that you are meeting your business/client’s goal in an effective manner and how to measure the success.