One of the biggest reasons social networking is crucial for public relations is because it offers for a wide expansion of news coverage. It allows stories to reach different audiences almost instantly. It also allows for feedback, which is something that is a fairly new concept. The audience can comment, rate, publicize, etc. a story based on what they think of it. An article by Patricia Faulhaber expands on this concept.

The other big way social networking can assist public relations practitioners is that they can make connections with other professionals all over the world. People can connect through social networking sites, such as facebook and linkedin, blog posts or RSS feeds. They can follow professionals they are particularly interested in and start an online relationship with them. You never know when your contacts will come in handy when you’re looking to get your story out there, find a job or get a recommendation.

Facebook especially is a huge tool used in the public relations field. There are pages, groups and ads for companies everywhere. Although it may seem weird at first because facebook started as a site just for college students, it is important to recognize this shift and use facebook as a professional tool, too. Jean Pitzer raises the idea that facebook may not be around forever in her blog. She questions the future of facebook:

As Facebook becomes more popular, it will attract the same kind of attention from advertisers and spammers that MySpace has. One of the things people love about Facebook is how personal it is, but its growing commercialization could make it lose its appeal. This begs the question, is this effort to transform Facebook into a business tool a hex to the service and a wasted effort? Or, is it possible to learn from the mistakes of Facebook’s competitors and effectively break into this space?

Heather Yaxley has a great article on her blog about how to use the internet and networking to your fullest advantage as a PR practitioner. Some of my favorite points are: remember to engage in conversations (leave comments), track what is being said about you using an alert system, think multimedia and “build your google juice”. The full list can be viewed here.

The New York Times featured an article, How to Use Social Networking Sites for Marketing and PR, that discussed the importance of keeping your profiles on these sites professional. One tip that I found particularly useful is “check out their public profile before engaging them in a conversation. Chances are you might have a connection, whether it’s a college, a personal interest, or a shared skill such as speaking the same foreign language.”

The important thing to remember about using social networking for PR is to remember to always keep it professional, and don’t be one-sided about it–comment, follow and build relationships using online sites created for doing so.