Social Media PR as a Catalyst: Balancing the Political Pressures to Communicate “with” or “to” the Public

Abstract

Sensuous public relations practices, the activity through which dialogue and communication is shaped, transmitted and disseminated. In its different ways, PR conceptualizes societal evolution as inter-woven with social practices; and those practices, in turn, shape its activity. PR arises among distinctive social groups and institutions, between a political figure and its constituency, on the basis, and as a response to given conditions and relationships. It is in the presence of these conditions Romanian PR practitioners have to handle and respond to the conditions of existence. We engage in quantitative and qualitative research Romanian PR practitioners so as to understand the impact of social media in Romanian PR political campaigns. We seek to place PR practitioners within a new society conceived as a complex expressive entity with new demands out of its political figures, and in consequence, in need of new PR instruments and solutions. There are, of course, some unresolved problems and some new threats for both Romanian PR practitioners and Romanian political figures, not least of which is the unevenness of dialogue between public and political figure. We alert to the assumption about the channels of communication with the young community, apparently disengaged from civic participation and disillusioned by political figures.