Piaras Kelly PR - Public Relations in Ireland

The role of the Internet in society strengthens every day. We’re long past the stage of simply throwing up a website and then thinking we’re done with the Net.

An example of some of the more interesting ways the Net is being used is the growing frequency of Googling people - here’s my result. Employers and prospective dates now use Google to do a quick check of what’s hiding in your cupboard (hopefully people will think I’m the university professor of the same name!)

Companies like BuzzMetrics have popped up to keep track of what is being said about a particular client, but can Irish PR practitioners do anything similar?

I know I keep harping on about Boards.ie, but I find it to be an invaluable resource. Not only can you keep track of various audiences, you can engage and lead conversations. People have highlighted how blogs have tremendous word-of-mouth capabilities, - well funnily enough Internet forums have the exact same features. While a lot of PR bloggers don’t harp on about joining forums at the same rate that they say you should set up a blog for your client, here’s one PR practitioner who thinks you should join forums relevant to your client.

There are also other online media outlets like Indymedia Ireland which provide a perspective often not covered by the mainstream media. It’s at least worth an RSS subscription.

There’s plenty of posts on blogs discussing how PR firms are going to have to start paying more attention to what’s going on online. I think that Irish firms are going to have to be just as vigilant despite the fact that the public might not be making as much of a splash online as other countries.