Individualization in Public Relations: The Increasing Importance of Data

 

Public relations have not been immune to the digital revolution. As a result of technological improvements, businesses now have unheard-of access to audience data, allowing for highly customized marketing and PR tactics. Instead of using a one-size-fits-all strategy, businesses may now customize their communications for particular audience segments. As mentioned by Zarrella (2010), social media sites like Facebook offer rich user data that may be utilized to tailor advertising campaigns.

Statistics and fact-checking are only a small part of how data are used in journalism and communication. Data journalism, an expanding field, uses computer methods to sift through massive databases in search of patterns, trends, and stories that may be hidden. Data scraping, data cleansing, statistical analysis, and the use of visualization tools are all skills that communicators are today expected to possess.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning "The Counted" initiative by The Guardian is among the most impressive instances of data journalism. Utilizing a variety of sources, such as social media, police reports, and local news outlets, this program documented and reported on every fatal police shooting that occurred in the United States in 2015 and 2016. As a result, an extensive, interactive database was created, which sparked a widespread conversation about police brutality.

Watching the video below, you can see throughout the years, Guardian reporters have tracked down and exposed killings caused by law enforcement in the US. This project will continue until the promised federal government reforms are seen as having had any effect.

But there are challenges involved in incorporating data into journalism practice. An understanding of data gathering, processing, and interpretation is necessary for data literacy, which is a fundamental precondition. When working with personal data, privacy concerns also become more important. Journalists must strike a balance between the public's right to know and people's right to privacy.

Furthermore, as Zarrella (2010) noted, it is inherently difficult to turn raw information into a story that is both factually true and interesting to the audience. As a result, journalists must become experts in both technical data skills and the craft of storytelling.

Kolodzy, J. (2012). Practicing Convergence Journalism. Taylor & Francis. https://mbsdirect.vitalsource.com/books/9781136222825

Zarrella, D. (2010) Oreilly - The Social Media Marketing Book (Attica). Available at: https://library.uniteddiversity.coop/Media_and_Free_Culture/The_Social_Media_Marketing_Book.pdf