Public back in Public Relations after ages: Dr Samir Kapur
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Aug 2: “During web 1.0, PR was only about media relations but now in web 2.0 PR has become public relations because the public can interact now directly with the firms and due to this PR professionals need to update their methods as well”, said Dr. Samir Kapur, Director-North, Adfactors PR.
He was speaking in a webinar on “Demystify Social Media Platforms” organized by Public Relations Society Delhi.
“PR is evolving from messaging to igniting conversations which go viral and become talking points on the social media,” he said.
‘Public’ is back in ‘Public Relations’ as for the longest time Public Relations practice was mainly Media Relations exercise. It has led even our politicians to forgo the formal media and they have started directly speaking to the public via their social media platforms, he added.
Talking about the relevance of mainstream media in these challenging times he said, this certainly is the churning time and the media that ask direct and valid questions would certainly stay relevant.
“Due to diminishing returns and to catch youngsters, newspapers with hundreds of years of old legacy in the western countries also have started shifting to digital format. In Covid times, we saw how social media growth outdid print media growth eventually. Today anyone can become a journalist or content writer: just you can use your own social media platforms to talk about issues,” Dr. Kapur said talking about the shift of newspapers from print to digital.
Raising an important point about writing press releases, Dr Kapur mentioned, “PR professionals need to embrace how to make audiovisuals as it is the time of multimedia. I will recommend to all PR professionals that there is the need to go beyond written notes. We have to go for the audiovisual and YouTube is the best platform for that”.
GS Bawa, Secretary, PRSD hosted the webinar while Chairman SS Rao delivered the welcome address. Vote of thanks was proposed by PRSD’s Joint Secretary Vivek Shukla. KN Dhawan, member, Governing body briefed about speaker and subject.