Critical analysis of blogging in public relations

Keeping up with the latest technology and understanding the consequences for everyday life and professional
practices is difficult for practitioners and academicians. At what point does an innovation become an everyday business practice, such as the Internet or wireless telephones? How do professionals know when understanding a new technology will be a prerequisite for success? One of the latest innovations currently having an impact on public relations is the blog. Both practitioners and academics are struggling to understand the value and consequences of blogs. This article tries to clarify the current strengths and weaknesses of the blog in both professional and academic contexts, analyzes current claims about blogging in public relations, and provides suggestions for understanding and studying blogs.
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Source: Micheal Kent

What motivates consumers to review a product online? A study of the product-specific antecedents of online movie reviews

In recent years online product review forums have been exerting an increasingly powerful  influence on consumer choice. Not surprisingly, several firms are becoming interested in  leveraging this phenomenon, proactively trying to induce consumers to “spread the word”  about their products online (Godes et al. 2005). Interestingly, however, even after one  controls for the variance in sales volumes, there appears to be substantial variance in  consumers’ propensity to discuss different products online. A deeper understanding of the  forces that motivate consumers to write online reviews is, therefore, emerging as a  question of both theoretical and practical significance.


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Sources: Chrysanthos Dellarocas,  Ritu Narayan

Relationships between Blogs as eWOM and Interactivity, Perceived Interactivity, and Parasocial Interaction

The purpose of this research was to examine the effects of a political candidate's blog-a form of eWOM (electronic Word-of-Mouth)-on attitudes toward the website, attitudes toward the political candidate, and intentions to vote. The results showed that interactivity in the form of a blog significantly influenced attitude toward the website, but not attitudes toward the candidate or voting intention. However, perceived interactivity influenced all three dependent variables, but did not interact with interactivity, suggesting that these are two separate constructs. The effects were mediated by parasocial interaction.


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Source: Journal of Interactive Advertising: Kjerstin S. Thorson, Shelly Rodgers