Interactivity has advanced from the natural attributes of face to face conversations, to occur in mediated communication settings across multiple platforms and through a range of multimedia. As difficulty arises in conceptualizing it, PRPs ultimately need to consider their communication with publics with varying levels of interaction with the advent of new media and technological innovation (Rafaeli, 1988). Communication itself is not interactivity. This is a mistake countless PRPs make in the industry – what they believe to be fully interactive with their publics is what Rafaeli (1988) terms two-way (non-interactive) communication. If PRPs are unable to differentiate between bilateral communication and fully interactive communication, how are they able to maximise its power to their advantage? There are too many misconceptions as to what being fully interactive means. PR is taking a step in the right direction yet it still tends not to advance beyond the reactive.
Full interactivity (responsiveness) differs from reaction in the incorporation of reference to the content, nature, form or just the presence of earlier reference (Rafaeli, 1988). It has led to boundaries between producer and user blurring with the rise of user-generated content, therefore challenging the traditional ‘mass media’ communication model. This has its pros and cons. “The ability to communicate knowledge, and so influence others, is power” (Rheingold). This power has traditionally resided in the hands of the PRPs however innovations in digital media are radically altering the communication equation as the interactivity component is tipping the power balance. The internet has led to the new ‘interactive media’ model which supports all communication (Hoffman and Novak, 1996) and users are becoming increasingly influential in agenda setting. This can be beneficial yet equally detrimental to reputation as the power of the crowd takes hold. You only have to look at the protests in Cairo, Egypt where Twitter was used as an ongoing channel to respond to previous message sequences and the content exchanged.
Regardless of whether your client is existent in the digital world or not; PRPs are unable to control what is being said. Interactive technologies provide a new impetus for PR enabling PRPs to amend, build and strengthen mutually beneficial relationships with key publics. The internet has created an architecture of participation where PRPs are able to shape user experiences. In this sense customers should be viewed as “co-producers” of an organisations products and services, as the social web navigates them through a shared, socially constructed negotiated understanding of meaning (Jones, Temperley and Lima, 2009).
Of the odd few agencies that do advance beyond simple reciprocity, the impact is far-reaching. Facebook has been a key channel in harnessing interactivity in the Smirnoff Nightlife Exchange Project, as 14 countries exchange their nightlife culture in one event.
The Smirnoff Nightlife Exchange Project Ad
Smirnoff are holding one final Miami themed tour across the UK in March yet to be determined by the mass audience via online voting at www.facebook.com/SmirnoffGB. Person-to-person (P2P) interactivity has extended the campaigns reach as users generate and share their own content. These major efforts individuals undertake to maintain the communication exchange, and to expect and elicit messages that will provide the best platforms for new messages is referred to as ‘reciprocally sustained involvement’ (Goffman, 1957). The campaign has moved the ‘locus of control over meanings from marketer to consumer’ (Deighton and Kornfeld (2007; 2009).
Communication is the vehicle through which interaction is achieved (Rafaeli, 1988). The internet and social media have provided a forum on a global scale that brings publics together instantaneously to exchange knowledge, content and opinions which can be either constructive or destructive in nature. It would be foolish for PRPs at the present time to ignore the power of interactivity.
On a leaving note: VOTE FOR BOURNEMOUTH - www.facebook.com/SmirnoffGB.
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