A. Communications Explosion1. Explosive growth of the Internet in the 90sB. The Internet
2. Blending of media—Telephone, TV and computer, creating “interactive,” two-way media.
3. The Internet transforms ways of communication and gives PR practice with innovative tools.1. Created in the 1960s (Not by Al Gore by the way!) to connect mainframe computers of academic and gov units.5. The average US Internet user is 41 years old. The research shows that the average user is gender neutral, has 2.81 children, earns USD 65,000 a year, and uses a PC at work.
2. Explosive growth when graphic and sound capabilities were added to the text via a web “browser.”
3. How many are online? The estimate is an inexact one at best. However, from observing many of the published surveys over the last two years, here is an "educated guess" as to how many are online as of November, 2000. Numbers in parentheses were from March, 2000.--World : 407.1 million (304.36 million)
--Africa: 3.11 million (2.58 million)
--Asia/Pacific: 104.88 million (68.9 million)
--Europe: 113.14 million (83.35 million)
--Middle East: 2.4 million (1.90 million)
--Canada & USA: 167.12 million (136.86 million)
* 153.84 million in U.S. (55.8% of population)
--Latin America: 16.45 million (10.74 million)
*Source: Nua Internet Surveys
www.nua.com/surveys
(Source: The Gartner Group, 2000)6. According to new research from the Citizenship Education Fund, 51% of all urban households have Internet access, but this figure drops to 42 percent for Hispanic households and 37 percent for African American households. But it is Hispanics and African Americans who are most likely to say that they will subscribe to an Internet service this year. The study also found that African American households are the most “television-oriented” of all households, making them an ideal focus for companies marketing Web-based TV, interactive TV, and digital cable service. (April, 2001)
7. U.S. Internet users are going online more often and staying online for longer, according to new data from Jupiter Media Metrix. U.S. users went online on an average of 15 days in March 2001, up from 14.5 days in March 2000, and 14.2 days in March 1999. They spent an average of 20.2 hours looking at Internet sites in March 2001, up from 15.9 hours last year and 12.8 hours the year before.
8. Most journalists now use email and the Internet in their work, almost all of them
agreed that the Internet had made their jobs easier and improved the quality of their work.
Most journalists use corporate websites as information sources when
working on breaking news. Almost half said they would report a story that had
originated on the Internet, if they could back it up using independent sources.
Source: http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/164405.htmlC. PR uses of the Internet
1. Email. Electronic distribution of news releases, e-mail responses to reporters' inquiries.
E-mail delivery of files to clients -- faster than express mail!
2. Corporate Web Sites—Key PR tool to provide info and publicize programs/events.
Internet Press Room. E-press kits, brochures, etc.
3. Usenet Discussion Groups (web-based). Listserv such as PRFORUM (Email-based)
4. Issue Monitoring/tracking, via the various news wires and newspaper databases
5. Electronic clipping service, to track story appearances in national and international media
6. Competitive intelligence, checking up on what the competition's doing
7. Research for writing articles and speeches.
8. Employment opportunities, using the 'Net to recruit new employees.
9. A source for mailing list info, such as address and phone numbers of the members of the U.S. Senate and Congress, addresses of newspapers, etc.D. Internet Issues
1. Because of the bewildering wealth of information, difficult to locate desired info.E. Other Computer Uses
(most users' maximum wait is 12 minutes)
2. Uncontrolled Content. Question of the credibility of the info.
3. Security and legal questions of copyright infringement, libel, and pornography remain unsolved1.Word processingF. Facsimile Transmission
2. Desktop publishing
3. Mailing List Software, such as Bacon’s Media Source Software, listing addresses, email and phone data for nearly 30,000 editors. Database software (Simmon's, VALS)
4. Graphic presentation software such as PowerPointG. Satellite Transmission
1. Satellites Serve as Relay of Message
2. News Release Delivery
a. Business Wire and PR Newswire are Prominent
3. Video and Audio News Release Distribution
4. Teleconferencing or Videoconferencing
5. Web conferencing: CUCME technology
6. Webcast