Social Media and Press Releases: Bad News for Us

With the advent of social media, we have seen the creation of a media outlet that seemed nearly impervious to the influence of corporations: everyday ordinary people informing other people of the goings on in the world at large. We saw the possibility for a more transparent news outlet, one where people could inform other people without the meddling of public relations firms, or other insincere corporate twists on a news story. These new methods of communicating ideas could put an end to fairy tales such as the great and kind John D. Rockefeller. We could finally realize a society where lies and dishonesty in the name of a public image were brought to light, and we could finally begin to actually trust what people said: as they would know they would be caught in any lie they attempted. Unfortunately, it would seem that media relation firms are up to the task of continuing their deception.

This week’s reading contained a case study on how social media has changed the method in which companies and individuals give press releases. It was honestly quite disheartening to see that such methods of blanketing harsh realities with lies and half-truths were being converted to become compatible with today’s social media scene. It had been a great hope of mine that social media could help put an end to the ability of those with enough money to deceive the common citizen, and convince them that nothing was wrong, no matter how badly it was.

Thankfully, though, it seems to be an imperfect method, as seen in the somewhat recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Those old enough to comprehend most of what is said in this post are old enough to remember BP’s public relations fiasco that was that massive oil spill. No matter how many commercials they released in an attempt to make amends for their mistakes, It would seem as if people still see them as a rather environmentally unfriendly company. This leaves me with the hope that we may still one day reach a point where the citizenry of not just this country, but of the whole world, can get by without having to rely on information hand fed to us by those wanting to appear a certain way. While I doubt media literacy will ever become an unnecessary skill, I still see the possibility for it becoming a much easier skill to learn.