There are a series of fundamental characteristics of social media that are not new in the history of media, and certainly not in the history of human communication.
But during thanks to the rise of social media they gained new relevance.
Old Attributes in New Context
The new philosophy for companies is to relinquish control, and to adopt protocols, principles and practices that enable and foster interactivity in social media. However, interactivity has varying forms. Websites offer two types of interactivity. One is functional interactivity that allows users to select content in different modalities (text, audio, video). But gives limited opportunities to comment, for example in ‘feedback’ or ‘contact us’ boxes.
The other is contingent interactivity which involves reciprocity in sending and receiving messages. It is called contingent activity because these exchanges are contingent on the content under discussion and messages sent.
The experiences and perceptions of users are enhanced by both functional interactivity and contingent interactivity. The selection and consumption of pre-determined content is secondary. Higher levels of interactivity in which users can interact and engage in dialogue, collaboration and content creation are a part of social media and lead to engagement and participation.
Public Relations and Social Media
Excellent public relations must include two-way communication. However, mass media have traditionally afforded little opportunity for it. But through its interactive features and open access, social media enables and facilitates two-way communication. Social media offers the potential to significantly enhance public relations.
True communication must involve dialogue. Openness to the other party is essential for building relationships. In public relations there is an emphasis on two-way interaction. For this reason, by providing opportunities for two-way communication, social media enables dialogic public relations.
In the early twentieth century, with the increasing popularity of social media, there was a profound shift in the mediascape with growing interaction between professional and amateur producers of media content. Today, people previously referred to as consumers and audiences produce much of the news, information and multimedia content in circulation.
The rise of social media has turned the notion of audiences being passive recipients of information on its head. It offers never seen before opportunities for collaboration.