Piaras Kelly PR - Public Relations in Ireland

With more and more people taking to the Internet by posting on Internet forums, starting a blog or creating a MySpace page, the public is slowly starting to realise that what they publish online stays there as a permanent record. Anthony Mayfield goes so far to say that managing your personal online reputation will be a core life skill.

However an interesting contrast to this is how some people are using the Internet as a means of therapy and to help others with personal problems. Two examples of this are the Self Harm and Waking the Nod websites which discuss self harm and heroin addiction respective. To say they are eye-opening is an understatement. Despite Waking the Nod only being a relatively new site, the perspective offered by the website author offers an amazing insight of addiction.

Due to the impersonal nature of the Internet, similar sites will start to pop up at an increased rate. Like the old saying goes, ‘On the internet, no-one knows your a dog.‘ In this instance, the Internet offers people a screen to hide their identities, but to discuss their problems in relative anonymity.

I think we will start to see a rise in similar websites created by organisations like the Samaritans. These websites have a number of benefits which would see them slot in nicely to the communications mix of organisations like the Samaritans or Childline:

• They afford their users increased anonymity as there is no chance of someone eavesdropping on a phone call in the family home
• Increase the likelihood of concerned parties finding required information like where to get help because blogging naturally helps the website rank higher on Google
• Put people in touch with similar individuals going through similar experiences. Anti-smoking organisations are already starting to employ this as a tactic
• Help friends and families understand what their loved ones are going through and how to cope with the resulting trauma

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