网络互联网新媒体危机公关分析外文翻译文献(文档含中英文对照即英文原文和中文翻译)原文:Blogging PR: An exploratory analysis of public relations weblogs Keywords:WeblogPublic relationsInteractivityUsabilityAbstract:Although there are ever more weblogs on the Internet, this is an area that has been little researched in public relations, and where they have been analyzed it has been as a tool for communication rather than a primary information source in the public relations body of knowledge. This paper provides an exploratory study of the structure and content of 67 blogs on public relations to determine what issues they deal with and whether they are a tool for the theoretical development of the field. In addition to their content we have looked at the structure, usability and interactivity of the blogs.1. IntroductionBlogs are seen by some authors as major tools for online communication, whereas by others they are little more than experts’ opinions on a given issue (Herrera & Celaya, 2006). They are such a recent medium (beginning in 1996) that the concept remains controversial and arguable (Barton, 2005). In any event their persuasive and informative function is of great relevance as they can obtain opinion leadership with a huge influence over public opinion. In this sense Sweetser and Metzgar (2007) have demonstrated that in crisis situations, people who read personal blogs have a lower perception of crisis for an organization.The rise of blogs seems to be unbridled and it is a phenomenon that is occurring in all knowledge fie lds (Jenkins, 2006). There are currently over 60 million blogs in existence and 75,000 new ones each day (Cohen & Krishnamurthy, 2006). More than 14 million people worldwide keep a personal diary on the Internet and a further 100 million (one third of the active Web universe) read blogs habitually (Gordillo, 2007). Every six months theblogosphere population doubles, and it is today sixty times greater than three years ago. No communication medium has ever burgeoned so rapidly. Weblog writers produce 700,000 to 1.3million articles every day—almost one a second (Gordillo, 2007). Since their arrival blogs have been changing, as have their social perception, objectives and cultural, economic, political and media impact (Yang, 2007). Weblogs have diversified and are developing in such diverse spheres as education, business, politics, journalism and public relations.According to Hallett (2005), the communicative use of weblogs in public relations has twofold foundations. On the one hand they enable professionals to analyze the market and ascertain the opinions of their audiences to gauge public opinion on a business, product or brand. On the other, they are a major technique for participating and giving opinions both personal and organizational, be it by posting co mments on other blogs or creating one’s own.This study, however, does not focus on analyzing corporate blogs, which are used as a public relations tool, but looks at blogs concerning public relations in which public relations or one of its activities is the main theme. Our aim is to analyze what public relations blogs are about, or what issues are dealt with in blog posts, in addition to any structural elements of this new communicative tool that may affect its efficacy to transmit information: objectives, structure and degree of usability, interactivity, and level of connectivity.2. MethodDatabases of public relations blogs are few and far between. One of the most comprehensive, and regularly updated, is the Online Public Relations directory, created by James H. Norton. We have chosen this database which encompasses a public relations blogs directory split into four categories: Public Relations General (67 blogs), Directories and Aggregators (7),Miscellaneous (3), and High-Tech PR (8). In order to avoid any bias resulting from the categorization criteria, for the purposes of this study we took 67 blogs from the Public Relations General category. The data collection was carried out between October 2006 and January 2007. Therefore, the sample selected for analysis consists of 67 blogs on public relations from around the world.For the data collection we drew up an analysis template that measures 50 items which were later categorized to create the main analysis variables. These variables were:(a) Author: The blogs were classified as personal, organizational written by anemployee, and purely organizational and, therefore, impersonal.(b) Content: Analysis was carried out of both the issues arising in the blog posts and the images or other resources. The content of blogs is tied up with its pursued objectives, which were also examined.(c) Interactivity: This measures the degree of user participation, according to the interactive resources available on the blog. These include: the option for external users to post comments or contact the blog author by e-mail, podcasting, audio and video downloads, sales of products and services, user surveys, and the possibility of subscribing.(d) Usability: This is a necessary requisite to develop efficient interactivity (Hallahan, 2001). This variable analyzes how easy it is to use the weblog for those who access it by means of: search engines on other blogs, internal search engines, list of previous files, list of most recent blog posts, and calendar.(e) Connectivity: This measures the extent to which the blog is linked to other websites, be it through other linked blogs or websites of interest.The analysis focuses on the descriptive statistical data on all of the items under study, in addition to the contingency tables and variable correlation. Given the characteristics of the study variables –largely nominal and ordinal –the Gamma index was used as the most suitable correlation index for the analysis.3. ResultsA look at the date when the blogs analyzed were created reveals that the lion’s share was set up very recently. Only 31.3% go back earlier than 2004. By contrast, 61.2% of the sample blogs were created between 2004 and the present. It was not possible to ascertain the creation date for five blogs (7.5%).One of the defining paradigms of blogs is that they are written in real time. With this new medium we shall no longer speak of frequency but of real time, of ongoing contributions. The upside of this is that they are more dynamic and enriched with a range of conversational styles, but they are lacking in contemplation (Orihuela, 2006). Despite these characteristics, over half of the blogs analyzed (53.7%) receive new blog posts around every five days. Only 11.9% are updated or include new input on a daily basis.3.1. AuthorshipIn their study into corporate blogs Lee, Hwang, and Lee (2006) split them into five categories: the employee blog, written by any worker in the company; the group blog, which is a workers’ blog kept not by one person alone but by aset of experts; the executive blog, written by management; the promotional blog, which is an impersonal corporate blog seeking to spark discussion on products and events; and lastly, the newsletter blog, which is also impersonal and aims to represent the company stance through its information. We have used this blog authorship classification for our own study but brought it down to only three analysis categories: personal blogs, by public relations professionals; company blogs written by an employee, 2 either non-management or management; and public relations company blogs.The largest share (77.6%) of the blogs analyzed in this study is personal, written primarily by public relations professionals. Corporate blogs written by employees or management constitute a much smaller proportion (16.4%). Impersonal corporate blogs were by far the smallest group (4.5%). This data corroborates the fact that one of the main characteristics of blogs is that they are personal, and users seek this ‘human voice’ in their communication (Jenkins, 2006). Impersonal corporate blogs are not as widely accepted by the blogger community (Lee et al., 2006: p. 320) because they are seen as marketing tools or as simple filters from the public relations department.Table 1With regard to the type of personal blogs, these results match those found in other research. Herring, Scheidt, Bonus, and Wright (2004), in a study conducted in 2003 on a sample of 199 blogs, also observed that most blogs (70%) were personal. Indeed, according to this study, personal information is one of the defining characteristics of blogs.However, what is most striking in these results is the low percentage of corporate blogs written by employees, given the powerful communicative tool that they constitute for organizations. Some companies have caught on to theirpotential and encourage their staff to keep blogs. These contain personal, subjective communication that is not directly sent out by the company but by a third party who gives their own opinions and the information is therefore perceived as impartial and unbiased. However, the value of this type of communication lies not only in its impartiality but also in the personal information provided, which gives a human face to the company and builds up a positive community vision around it and its products (Lee et al., 2006).3.2. ContentTable 1 shows the main objectives of the blogs analyzed. As can be seen, most seek to comment upon topical affairs in public relations profession, as well as to voice personal opinions on these issues. Given that the blogs analyzed are largely personal, interest in the author’s contributions is understandable. Conversely, the low percentage of weblogs that aim to debate issues surrounding public relations theory is surprising.If we look at the c ontents we find that 88.1% of the blogs analyzed contain comments on various aspects of public relations and 85.1% on other communicative affairs. Commentaries on blogs and communication in the blogosphere are also considerable (74.6%), albeit in a lower proportion. It is worth highlighting that comments on aspects of the author’s personal life, such as trips, hobbies, family and professional achievements, arise in 50.7% of the blogs. This reveals that weblogs are communicative tools with a strong personal emphasis in all areas discussed.Overall, this data suggests that blogs belonging to an organization are more serious and formal, in both their content and the blog posts. Moreover, they fundamentally provide information on their own company and publicize its website. This contrasts with personal blogs where the tone can range from the strictly formal to the colloquial.The results also reveal differences in the contents of professional and non-professional public relations blogs. The former explore issues in public relations and communication in general, as well as the blogosphere and the Internet. However, the blogs written by non-professionals provide opinions on advertising, television and other more informative aspects. These do not contain experiences b ut opinions and perception of the field.Broadly speaking, there is no advertising on blogs. Although 41.8% of the sample includes banners, these are not advertising of the blog but traditionaladverts that have been added to blog posts to be highlighted, displayed or commented on from a marketing communications perspective. Therefore, they constitute advertising integrated into the user comments, with a high degree of subjectivity.Lastly, Table 2 shows the percentages of the main issues tackled in the blog posts on the weblogs analyzed. As is evident, 95.5% of the blogs discuss the blogosphere in their comments. These concern the importance of this new communicative tool, its characteristics and its use in public relations. The next most important are topics on Internet communication, in addition to the theory and practice of public relations, albeit from more of a professional than an academic or research-based stance.Table 2译文:博客公关:博客公共关系的探索性分析关键词:博客公共关系互动性可用性摘要:尽管微博在互联网上日益流行,但这仍是一个公共关系中很少涉足研究的领域。