11Technology, Social Media, and Big Data
Keywords
Big Data; analytics; social media; digital world; technology; rise of the Internet
Central Themes
- Emergent communication technologies and social media have significant implications for public relations.
- The Internet has created the possibility of reaching publics that previously could not be easily accessed.
- Social media has changed how people communicate, as well as when they communicate, where they communicate, and who they communicate with.
- Organizations are exploring how large‐volume data can usefully be deployed to create and capture value for individuals, businesses, communities, and governments.
- Big data enables businesses to execute trend analysis, stakeholder mapping, market analysis, and consumer and public behaviors.
Introduction
The Internet has created the possibility of reaching publics that previously could not be easily accessed. As markets expand and organizations enter new territories, the daunting task of creating and maintaining culture‐tailored communications strategies frequently falls to public relations professionals. This process is labor‐, resource‐, and time‐intensive, and entails the initiation of baseline data and cumbersome processing tasks. Before the birth of the Internet, physical transportation of information was a common practice, and the cost of both labor and time was expensive. The results were often not worth the investment. While the Internet has created the possibility of defying ...