PR Blog Relations Survey - the threat posed by blogs
The most striking conclusion is that PR Pros see blogs as posing a significant threat to corporate reputations. 64% agree that a disgruntled employee or a dissatisfied customer could use a blog to ignite a full blown crisis. 58 percent of respondents agree that businesses have not yet woken up to the threat posed by blogs.
A number of PR commentators emphasised that companies can mitigate the danger by being aware of what bloggers are saying about them. Joel Cere, Vice President at Hill & Knowlton in the UK, says that monitoring blogs is "a prerequisite in crisis preparedness" while Shel Holtz of Holtz Communication and Technology in the US writes that companies must "adapt to the speed of blogs and learn to address them."
Several respondents point out that blogs can be a conduit into the mainstream media. Sarah Forrester, a British based publicist specialising in PR for media companies, says, "It’s interesting that controversial items that are aired/exposed on these sites often end up in the printed media anyhow. What that proves is that it’s a much more immediate way of disseminating information - which surely is an issue for any business."
The only commentator to give an outright dismissal of the alleged threat from bloggers is Neil Boom of Gresham PR in London: "Why are blogs any different from any other form of company pressure group or mad crank?’ he asks. "If companies waste their time trying to deal with bloggers they will tie themselves up in knots."
Stewart Bruce of Bruce Marshal Associates in the UK was not aware of Boom’s comment when he wrote: "The PR who ignores blogs is an even bigger fool than those who think blogs change everything."
Tom Murphy, a long established PR blogger in Ireland, takes issue with the concept of blogs with the proposition: "The idea of blogs as a "threat" is, in my opinion, looking at the wrong perspective.
