In America, between 1994-2004, there was an almost 30% drop in newspaper readership. At the same time, almost 80 million people turned to the internet for their news, whilst two-thirds of the online community access social networks and blogs.
The news is still a powerful tool. Whilst the game remains the same, it seems the stadium is ever changing. While it used to be that news was communicated through the printed word, evidence seems to support a radical change, from traditional to the internet.
Why it works
Online PR gets up close and personal with the online community. This is why it is becoming so popular and effective.
It’s direct. This is the one of the most important aspects over traditional PR that online can offer. There’s the opportunity to link to…pretty much whatever you need; resources, your home site, story sources. It’s available to the reader immediately.
Reaches the parts traditional PR cannot reach
A newspaper can only get so far. With the internet, your reach is potentially limitless. If your PR is good, it can get easily picked up by other news sites. They share your news and so on and so forth.
With social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Google +, online PR has the opportunity to be read by millions more than originally intended.
The technicals
It sounds selfish, but business is business. Money tends to rule absolute and the great benefit of online PR over tradition is cost.
It’s much, much cheaper.
Lower fixed costs mean that more PR can be created. Plus a PR has the opportunity to stay online for an indefinite period of time, compared to traditional PR, which tends to have a finite shelf life.
If your news is not online, then taking the steps to get it there is something that will only benefit in the long run.
