The Significance of Upcoming PR Practitioner as a Social Media

The Significance of Upcoming PR Practitioner as a Social Media

Specialist.

Chapter 1

1.1. Introduction

For a long period of time, academics have inspected public relations by

observing the specific roles that are engage in recreation by professionals

(Broom & Smith, 1979). These roles relate to precise responsibilities

performed by either technicians or executives (Dozier, 1983). One mission or

set of farm duties that has become more and more dominant in the field of

public relations is the application of social media tools (Wright & Hinson,

2009b).

Research has presented that younger practitioners employ more portion of

their time in this part than do old-timer practitioners (Sha & Dozier, 2012).

The purpose of this revision is to inspect why younger professionals

(upcoming) are the ones to fill the need for social media practitioners and the

implications of this trend.

Therefore additionally to social media and public relations roles, this study will

also explore the idea of categorization. Categorization is a phenomenon that

occurs in several careers and is frequently accompanying with minority

professionals (Acello, 2008). However, specialists in various industries can

end up being categorized based simply on situational conditions such as what

kind of work is offered when they start their profession (Acello, 2008).

The categorization of new public relations specialists can have serious

consequences for the forthcoming of the field of public relations. The writing

skills of entry-level practitioners are already a anxiety for many industry

veterans (Cole, Hembroff & Corner, 2009; Hines & Basso, 2008; Wise, 2005).

The findings of this thesis could highlight whether fresh professionals are

receiving the writing practice and other experiences they need in order to

complete their career objectives such as proceeding to more senior

practitioner levels or beginning their personal agencies.

1.2. Problem statement:

The new age of public relation roles is created by the new generation of the

fresh or even upcoming entrant and because of new technologies and IT

advancement the roles of PR practitioner is keep changing and developing.

On the other hand some of the changes are causing a shortage in a certain

skills, and these particular skills are seemed to be replaced by the new skills

of the new generation of practitioners.

Other important factors could be linked to this subject could be a certain

categorizations and classifications such as: Gender of practitioners, the

degree of the education, the past experience, and the salary range.

So it will be a priority for any public relation specialized firm to understand

these factors and how it could affect the performance of the different tasks of

a public relation specialist, in the daily routine tasks. In addition this study will

help the new practitioners and the upcoming one to improve their skills, and

match the role of public relation specialist requirements.

Generally the problem statement of this research will be to discover the

importance of the social media role for the fresh Public relation practitioner, to

know the nature of that role (technical/tactical), and eventually to link this role

with other skills, without forgetting to link all the previous investigation to the

categorization of Gender, Salary, degree of education, and past experience.

1.3. Research objective:

The Aim of this study is to explore the different roles of the public relation

practitioners, and to distinguish among the old generation and new

generations, therefore the primary objective is to link the different categories

of the practitioner into the different roles of social media, so we can generalize

the result in the future in order to design the best jobs descriptions and

specification, in addition it could help firms to decide on the training programs

and/or skill improvements.

As a secondary aim of this study, it will be important to the scholars to decide

whether the fresh upcoming Public Relation practitioners roles in the social

media will be technical or it will be tactical (strategic). So they can decide what

should be more emphasizing on in the education and the training, when

preparing the upcoming public relation specialists.

1.4. Significance of the study:

this research will be important due to its benefits to the Public relation

employers whom are seeking to employ fresh blood in their agencies,

because this research could provide a better understanding on the field of

social media public relation, in addition to showing the characteristics of

generation (Y) which means the new and upcoming practitioner, in order to

understand how they actually think.

The second source of importance in inspired from the academic field,

because this research is consider being a following study to many worldwide

researches and revisions, so the study will contribute in the topic of public

relation and social media.

1.5. Research question:

The most appearing questions in this research are related to the topic of

Public relation practitioner role, categorization, and the effect of new roles on

the traditional skills such as writing, and communication facilitation.

Another questions will appears to differentiate the roles of social media

whether it is technical, or Tactical (strategic).

This study seeks answers to the following questions:

Research Question (1): How the different categorizations of the upcoming

public relations practitioner are affecting their social media roles?

Research Question (2): does the new Task of social media specialists, is

affecting the other traditional public relation practitioner skills?

Research Question (3): What are the criteria of social media responsibilities

do new professionals perform? Are their roles primarily technical or tactical?

1.6. Definitions of key words:

• Public Relations Practitioner: A PR (Public Relations) Practitioner is

a person who is concerned in bringing people together in

understanding through communication. The duties of a PR practitioner

includes; consulting, industry affairs, corporate advertising, employee

communication and organization of special events. PR practitioners are

employed by any type of organization including government

departments, charity organizations, mining houses and municipalities

among others.

• Generation (Y): the phrase Generation Y first appeared in an August

1993 Ad Age editorial to describe teenagers of the day, which they

defined as different from Generation X, and then aged 12 or younger

as well as the teenagers of the upcoming ten years. Since then, the

company has sometimes used 1982 as the starting birth year for this

generation. Much as "Generation X" members are generally speaking,

the children of "Baby Boomers", the phrase "Generation Y" alludes to a

succession from parents who are "Generation X".

• Social media: refers to the means of interactions among people in

which they create, share, and/or exchange information and ideas

in virtual communities and networks. Andreas Kaplan and Michael

Haenlein define social media as "a group of Internet-based applications

that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0,

and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content.

Furthermore, social media depends on mobile and web-based

technologies to create highly interactive platforms through which

individuals and communities share, co-create, discuss, and modify

user-generated content. It introduces substantial and pervasive

changes to communication between organizations, communities, and

individuals.

• Writing skills: are the abilities a person has to apply to their writing.

Writing skills can include knowing proper structure, using grammar and

spelling correctly, and being able to write in a concise, clear manner

that is easy to read and understand.

• Communication skills: are skills oral / verbal and written that are used

to convey a message to an audience. A person who has good

communication skills is able to effectively deliver his message to

people.

1.7. The Structure of the study:

The structure of this thesis can be broken down into four general parts.

The first part is an introduction. It contains basic information about

theoretical foundations of the thesis and the importance of the topic PR

practitioner roles and how social media can affect it. It presents research

question and explains what the aim of the study is. Finally, it suggests for

whom the results of this study might be useful. The limitations of the study

are concerned at the end of the introductory part.

The second part is a theoretical background of the thesis. It is based on

results from the literature and earlier study on the same topics of the

study. This part contains writer’s academic analysis in which he synthesize

and ex-pound ideas upon the topic area in question. It consists of many

subchapters which are prearranged in a logical way, from the most general

to the most specific one.

.

2. The third part of this thesis is based on author’s own research. It starts

with description of used methodology. The research method and the ways

of gathering information, collecting data and preparing the questionnaire

are presented. In the next step author justify the choice of the

questionnaire. At the end of this part choice of the sample and

characteristic of respondent are described. The last subchapter contains

information about the way data was analyzed.

3. The final part of the research presents results of the research for groups of

students and fresh practitioners. They are tracked by conversation and

summary of findings. The study is ended by a conclusion which

summarizes the thesis. The last part lists the literature used during the

process of writing this thesis and is followed by appendix that contain

survey.

1.3 Limitations

Due to the scope of this study there are more than a few limitations that need

to be talked. First, it has to be well-known that although there are some

evidence in the literature on current relative among after employment

attitudes and future behavior of employed persons, it should be not taken as

granted that the elements selected as the most inspiring by students, will be

also so significant for them when they start their job. The main question in the

study asked about students’ expectations their roles as a social media experts

in the future job. It is possible that an experience in a real work environment

will change persons’ attitudes towards the studied phenomenon

Second, the present study limited its sample to a group of PR (MBA), and BA

students at Limkokwing University of creative technology LUCT, and a group

of fresh practitioner in Kazakhstan . This may hinder the generalizability of

the results. In other words, results should be generalized only to the

population of students from those two particular areas. However, it is possible

that students from other business schools and/or PR agencies would give

similar answers.

Finally, the questionnaire used in the research was planned in English,

although author is an English native speaker some minor changes between

questionnaires occurred. To minimize the change the questionnaire was

unified into English.

2. Chapter Two (Literature Review)

2.1. Introduction:

A significant aspect of a PR practitioner is dealing with crucial publics (Blaney,

Benoit, & Brazeal, 2002; Coombs, 2000; Cunningham, 2005). This can be

share- and stockholders, but also interior persons and other important parties.

An enhanced explanation for publics is “target.” For this study, a company’s

important target has, more or less, an effect on the company’s stability. Since

so many organizations have so many diverse targets, a static description is

hard to state. Therefore, the “publics” are those who have a correlation with

the company.

Additionally, “key-publics” are those who have a “substantial” impact on each

other’s relationship; henceforth, the corporation and the key-target depend on

one another.

Furthermore, “substantial” is a relative word and the implication of it can vary

for every organization and situation. For some organizations “substantial” can

be the public that touch the monetary aspects of the organization, while for

organization s “substantial” can be those who affect the organization’s

apparent image.

In sum, the term “substantial” depends on the context. Researchers (Luecke,

2007; McIntosh & Luecke, 2011) distinguish six key publics for an

organization. The splitting up are based on relationship features and the fitting

communication medium that most likely have the maximum influence on its

publics. The significance to understand the organizations’ publics

counterparts many studies (e.g. Cancel et al., 1997; Claeys, Cauberghe, &

Vyncke, 2010; Coombs, 2007; Grunig, 1997, 2006; Grunig, Grunig, & Dozier,

2002; Hearit, 2006, Kim, 2011; Shin, Heath, & Lee, 2011; Sisco, 2012). The

publics are segmented as personnel, stockholders, customers, suppliers,

community leaders, and controllers/government organizations.

Additionally, some segments have sub-segments; an organization can

distinguish its customers in, for example, buying power, financial effect, or

special (communication) needs.

In the same context revisions (Bortee, 2011; Meng, 2009; Meng et al. 2012)

emphasize that a PR practitioners’ involvement has a important effect on

successful decision-making. Involvement is “the knowledge or ability acquired

by experience over a period of time, particularly, that gained in a precise

occupation by someone at work” (Harvard University Press, 2012).

It also includes the clarifications of a specific event that plants an impression,

or something one has faced or experienced (Harvard University Press, 2012).

Experience contributes to an increase of understanding; however, an

undergoing does not routinely bequest more knowledge or skills. How an

individual renders an undergoing is subject to the experience donates to more

understanding (Hallett, Nunes, Bryant, & Thorpe, 2012).

Research (J. E. Grunig, 2000; L. A. Grunig, J. E. Grunig, & Dozier, 2002)

highlights that the worth of communication, in PR, is an essential significant

for constructing networks with the organization’s publics. Likewise, studies

cleared the position of communication in relationship constructing and

structuring; which results in an involvement to an organization’s reputation.

Bortree (2011) states, “that while reasons for relationship initiation play a

powerful role in the organization–public relationship, organizations can

minimize the impact through relationship management” (p. 48).

An indicator for two main elements in relationships, trust and commitment, is

satisfaction (Ki & Hon, 2007; Waters & Bortree, 2012). The rank of satisfaction

appears to correlate with the communality of the relationship (Waters &

Bortree, 2012).

Additionally, satisfaction is, “fulfillment of one’s wishes, expectations, or

needs, or the pleasure derived from this” (Oxford Dictionaries, 2012).

Henceforth, when there is satisfaction in a relationship, mutually the two

parties' bequest, more or less, each other’s outlooks. Thus, when an

organization does not transfer to a more accommodative stance to its publics,

the satisfaction—in rewarding one’s requirements, outlooks, or needs—

declines; ergo, risking the relationship.

Thus, there are three categories of organizations different, which shake the

publics’ relationship expectations; first, personal (non-profit

organization/volunteer relationship); second, expert (retailer/consumer

relationship); and third, public (political party/member relationship) (Bruning,

Langenhop, & Green, 2004; Ledingham, & Bruning, 1998; Ledingham,

Bruning, & Wilson, 1999; Waters & Bortree, 2012). So, the publics’ opening

type of relationship regulates the outlooks of an organization. Added, publics

evaluate an organizations’ relationship through four main relationship values:

trust, control empathy, commitment, and satisfaction (Dimmick, Bell, Burgiss,

& Ragsdale; 2000).

Hence, how an organization accomplishes on those variables, according to its

publics, is conditional. Based on practitioners’ input, Meng et al. (2012)

confirm that relationship-building abilities are the forth-important quality of an

excellent leader in PR, Hung (2004) separates eight types of relationships on

a range. Furthermore, the study labels the most valuable relationship-type for

an organization and its publics, the “win-win zone”

Significantly, enhancing relationships or strategies for enhancing relationships

is outside the scope of this study; nonetheless, they play a significant role in

the success of handling the organization’s publics in any circumstances.

Literature that bordered this study came from the most important areas to

fulfill the subject of the research: public relations persons, the social media,

different genders and public relations, up-coming public relations practitioners,

and Categorization.

2.2. PUBLIC RELATIONS SPECIALIST DUTIES:

Regarding the PR persons, reader should note that, Dozier and Broom (2006)

label organizational roles as “abstractions, conceptual maps that summarize

the most salient features of day-to-day behaviors of organizational members”

(p. 137).

Investigation on public relations roles began with an exploratory test by Broom

and Smith (1979). The emphasis of the study was clients’ insights of the roles

or tasks performed by public relations professionals (Broom & Smith, 1979).

The study identified five chief roles: the technical services source, the expert

prescriber, the communication process organizer, the problem-solving/job

implementer and the acceptant legitimizer (Broom & Smith, 1979). The

acceptant legitimizer, which assists clients simply by paying attention and

backup, was dropped based on the test findings. Broom’s (1982) refined the

outstanding four roles and called them the expert prescriber, the

communication organizer, the problem-solving process implementer, and the

communication technician.

The expert prescriber is a specialist who identifies communication difficulties

between an organization and its publics and suggests way out to those

difficulties (Broom & Smith, 1979). In this role, the practitioner works

individualistically and does not pursue input from organization administration

(Broom & Smith, 1979). The expert prescriber’s association with their client or

organization has even been associated to the relationship between a doctor

and patient (Broom & Smith, 1979). In this role, the practitioner is expected to

be the most well-informed person in the organization both about public

relations and communication difficulties (Broom & Smith, 1979). One matter

that arises with this role is that clients or organizations can become reliant on

their expert prescriber due to their comparatively passive role in problem

solving (Argyris, 1961; Broom & Smith, 1979). Since the organization is only

doing as the practitioner prescribes rather than engaging with their publics,

packages or explanations posed by the prescriber are often unequal and are

not naturally the most successful in the long-term (Argyris, 1961; Broom &

Smith, 1979).

As the name indicates, the role of the communication organizer is to enable

communication among an organization and its publics (Broom & Smith, 1979).

Originally, “the communication process organizer,” this role acts as the

“negotiator” or “information mediator” (Broom & Smith, 1979). The concept of

the communication organizer curtailed from literature on the role of advisers

(Broom & Smith, 1979). A primary purpose of this role is to inspire two-way

discussion between an organization and its publics (Broom & Smith, 1979).

The communication organizer plays an important role in assisting

organizations exercise two-way balanced communication (Grunig & Hunt,

1984). Two-way balanced communication guarantees all parties have

satisfactory information to make choices of mutual advantage (Broom &

Smith, 1979; Grunig & Hunt, 1984).

The role of problem-solving process implementer is alike to that of the expert

prescriber in that the aim is to detect and solve difficulties (Broom & Smith,

1979).

However the main alteration is that the problem-solving process implementer

works with organization administration and cooperates to find where

communication difficulties are and what the finest solution is (Broom & Smith,

1979),: “Only by involving the client in each step can the consultant expect the

project to remain relevant to clients’ need and acceptable in the client system”

(Broom & Smith, 1979, p.7). While involved, this model is duller at the time; it

normally results in better long-term results for the organization (Broom &

Smith, 1979; Dozier, 1992).

Finally, the communication technician role emphases on the real creation and

distribution of public relations materials (Broom & Smith, 1979). Technician

tasks include writing press releases, creating handouts, and apprising media

lists (Broom & Smith, 1979). The unique characteristic of technicians is that

they achieve tasks that the client or main partnership agrees are essential

(Broom & Smith, 1979; Dozier, 1992). Unlike specialists in the other roles, this

role is not involved with detecting or solving difficulties (Broom & Smith,

1979). While technicians may implement certain sides of a program under this

model, the success or failure of the model really lies with the client who

analyzes the problem and selects the way out (Broom & Smith, 1979).

Research on these four unique public relations roles start that the first three

were extremely connected, but the role of communication technician was not

connected with the others (Dozier, 1983). Because of this, Dozier simplified

the roles and combined the first three to become what is recognized as the

executive role, and the technician role he found to remain separate. In the

two-role typology, technicians are still those who tend to produce and

distribute materials based on what the client or executive considers vital

(Broom, 2009).

Executives are practitioners who are portion of decision-making (Dozier,

1992). Executives also use research to inform their plans (Dozier, 1981, 1986;

Judd, 1987) and assess their success (Dozier, 1984). Whether using the

original four roles, or the two-role contrast, no practitioner will fall into a

solitary role at all periods (Broom, 2009; Dozier & Broom, 1995; Moss,

Newman, & DeSanto, 2005). However, practitioners do tend to have a

dominant role they enact most often (Broom, 2009).

Since the unique conceptualization by Broom (1979) and then by Dozier

(1983), there has been a great deal of research on public relations roles and

how they relate to other phenomena in the roles of public relations.

Thus we move to Role qualifications which are the aspects that effect role

enactment. There has been much research done on qualifications of role

enactment such as gender (Broom, 1982; Sha & Dozier, 2011; Toth & Serini,

1998), education (Broom, 1982; Broom & Dozier, 1986; Dozier & Broom,

1995) and professional experience (Sha & Dozier, 2011). Official tutoring has

been found to have a amazingly minor effect on role performing (Dozier &

Broom, 1995). With his 1979 PRSA survey, Broom (1982) discovered that

schooling in public relations had no major influence on executive role

enactment. In 1991, official tutoring was found to account for approximately 2

percent of the variance between executive and technician role enactment

(Dozier& Broom, 1995). Dozier and Broom (2006) speculate that the real

measures used to evaluate education may contribute to how slight influence it

has been shown to have. The trials used look at whether practitioners have a

academy degree and in what area of study (Dozier & Broom, 2006). This does

not take into account the precise courses the practitioner took (Dozier &

Broom, 2006). This is vital since much of the education in public relations,

especially undergraduate learning, emphases on technical skills and not

executive role know-how (Dozier & Broom, 2006). Specialized knowledge has

been found to have a positive relationship with executive role enactment

(Dozier & Broom, 2006; Sha & Dozier, 2011).

Normally, practitioners begin their jobs in a technician role and grow to an

executive role (Broom & Smith, 1979; Dozier & Broom, 2006). Age is another

aspect that is positively linked with executive role enactment (Broom, 1982;

Dozier & Broom, 1995). Both in the 1979 PRSA survey and a 1991

International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) review the

correlation between the two variables was both positive and significant

(Broom, 1982; Dozier & Broom, 1995).

Gender is likely the most-studied demographic in public relations and in the

roles research in particular. The research in the area is included in the thesis

section titled “Gender and Public Relations,” starting on page.

Therefore Some results of role enactment have been recognized and include

strategic decision-making (Broom, 1982; Broom & Dozier, 1995), income

(Broom & Dozier, 1995) and job satisfaction (Broom & Dozier, 1986).

Study has shown that executive role enactment and participation in the

strategic decision-making process are extremely correlated (Broom, 1982;

Dozier & Broom, 1995). This is important because, according to Dozier and

Broom (2006), “practitioners cannot effectively perform the function if they are

not participants in strategic decision making, the choices made about long-

term goals, required courses of action, and allocation of resources” (p. 156).

One of the core reasons for this is that public relations as a occupation

requires more than communication; successfully building relationships with

publics requires organizations to also consider the activities they do (Dozier &

Broom, 2006; Grunig & Hunt, 1984). Income is also related to role enactment

(Dozier & Broom, 2006). Pay is completely influenced by professional

knowledge, participation in strategic decision-making and executive role

enactment (Dozier & Broom, 2006). However, even when professional know-

how and participation in strategic decision-making are controlled for,

executive role enactment is still found to have a positively correlated with

income. Creeds of the executive role, which result in higher salaries, are

acknowledged expertise and responsibility for the success or failure of public

relations practices (Dozier & Broom, 2006).

Job satisfaction is additional result of role enactment that has been

considered (e.g., Broom & Dozier, 1986). The relationship between role

enactment and job satisfaction is somewhat surprising. Broom and Dozier

(1986) found that executive role enactment is not positively linked to job

satisfaction as one may assume. In a longitudinal study of data collected

between 1979 and 1985, practitioners who are in progress in the technician

role and moved to predominantly the executive role reported a minor gain in

job satisfaction over the six years, while those who remained in the technician

role reported a much greater gain in job satisfaction (Broom & Dozier, 1986).

Remarkably, strategic decision-making is positively correlated with job

satisfaction and when this variable is controlled executive role enactment is

not (Broom & Dozier, 1986).

Looking at role enactment and its relation to the adoption of new technology is

something that came along before social media or even the World Wide Web

(Anderson & Reagan, 1992; Dozier, 1989). Dozier (1989) posited that new

technologies can either help public relations practitioners do something they

already do or let them do something completely new. He also asserted that

new technologies might be more beneficial to executives or technicians,

depending on what the new technology helps the practitioner do (Dozier,

1989). Tools that are only useful in improving communication are more

beneficial to technicians, while tools that improve research capabilities are

more beneficial to executives (Dozier, 1989). One example Dozier (1989)

used was the creation of the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences

(SPSS), which is predictive analytics software that enabled practitioners to

conduct sophisticated research more easily. As a research tool, SPSS is more

useful to practitioners in the executive role.

Discoveries from Anderson and Reagan (1992) backed up Dozier’s (1989)

theory.

Anderson and Reagan (1992) conducted a mail survey of practitioners and

measured their participation in several roles as well as their use of

technologies that were new at the time, such as personal computers,

teleconferences and email. The findings indicated that both executives and

technicians had not fully included these new innovations (Anderson &

Reagan, 1992). While neither had adopted technology more rapidly,

executives and technicians had adopted diverse tools based on the tasks they

perform (Anderson & Reagan, 1992).

2.3. SOCIAL MEDIA (Conceptualized Clarification):

Social Media is the future of communication, a countless array of internet

based tools and platforms that increase and enhance the sharing of

information. This new form of media makes the transfer of text, photos, audio,

video, and information in general increasingly fluid among internet users.

Social Media has relevance not only for regular internet users, but business

as well.

Platforms like twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin have created online

communities where people can share as much or as little personal information

as they desire with other members. The result is an enormous amount of

information that can be easily shared, searched, promoted, disputed, and

created.

Social Bookmarking tools and news sites such as Digg, Delicious, reddit, and

countless others make finding specific information, images, or websites

increasingly simple by assigning or “tagging” individual sites with searchable

key words.

Applications that have developed within and around these platforms,

websites, and tools are endless in number and functionality, but all make

online sharing and searching easier in some fashion, regardless of their niche.

As nearly every type of business has an association in the non-digital world,

so too does the internet offer an endless number of niche social communities

where members can gather around a common topic. Topics both general and

specific now have living homes on the internet; anything from colon and

digestive health to security and compliance can and do have active social

media communities.

The key question now being addressed by an ever growing number of social

media “experts” is how to best utilize the unlimited amount of information

available from social media sites for business advertising, social good, and

who knows what else. One thing is for certain; personal data from social

media usage will continue to be tracked and logged for the benefit of any

business willing to pay for it, and any company that doesn’t invest in social

media now will be playing catch-up in the near future.

Social media has become a common topic in both public relations practice

and research. However, there is no one definition for the concept that has

been agreed upon. Many studies provide their own definition, while others

assume that there is some common meaning.

Wright and Hinson (2006, 2008a, 2008b, 2009a, 2009b) began in 2006 a

longitudinal study on social media use by public relations specialists. Each

year they have conducted an online survey about specialists’ behaviors and

attitudes regarding different social media tools. At first the revisions focused at

most on blogs, but they have changed to include new tools as they are

created. Despite their years of studying social media, Wright and Hinson

(2009b) claimed, “it still is difficult to define exactly what social media are” (p.

3). Even though they accepted the striving with defining such a concept,

Wright and Hinson (2009b) developed their own explanation and said that

“social media deliver web-based information created by people with the

intention of facilitating communication” (p. 5).

The description that is the most usually perceived in public relations research

is Kaplan and Haenlein’s (2010) definition, which described social media as “a

group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and

technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and

exchange of user-generated content” (p. 60).

Grounded on this description, they came up with six categories of social

media: collaborative projects, blogs, content communities, social networking

sites, virtual game worlds, and virtual social worlds (Kaplan & Haenlein,

2010).

While such a list is valuable when relating a definition or making it more

tangible, the original definition is important because when new tools arise the

definition gives limits that help decide whether the new gears are social media

or not (Chaffee, 1991).

Although Kaplan and Haenlein’s (2010) definition is the most quoted, it fails to

address social media’s ability shape and accomplish relationships, as well as

its aptitude to ease multi-directional channel of communication (Lee, Tisdale &

Diddams, 2012). These abilities of social media are mainly important in public

relations, making them necessary additions to the definition.

A dominant part of the repetition of public relations is Organization-Public

Relationships (OPR). Broom, Casey and Ritchey (2000) posited that OPR:

are characterized by the patterns of interaction, transaction, exchange, and

linkage between an organization and its publics. These relationships have

properties that are distinct from the identities, attributes, and perceptions of

the individuals and social collectivities in the relationships. (p.18)

So, OPR models, such as that by Hung (2002), clarify relationship

antecedents, maintenance strategies and outcomes. Antecedents are

necessary factors for OPRs to exist, meaning one party must have results on

the other (Grunig & Huang, 2000; Ledingham, 2003). Maintenance strategies

are simply techniques to cultivate good relationships (Hon & Grunig, 1999;

Ledingham, 2003). Finally, relationship outcomes are qualities of a

relationship that are measurable (Hon & Grunig, 1999; Hung, 2007;

Ledingham, 2003). Research has shown that social media is particularly

useful for building and cultivating relationships (Levenshus, 2010; Sweetser,

2010), making it a valuable aspect when defining social media (Lee et al.,

2012).

Another important quality of social media is its ability to enable multi-

directional channel of communication (Lee et al., 2012). Communication is

habitually thought of as being one-way or two-way, but social media platforms

allow multiple users to communicate concurrently in multiple directions as

showed by the multi-directional communication model (Thackeray & Neiger,

2009). In this model, the original sender or originator of a message will often

lose control of its distribution (Thackeray & Neiger, 2009).

Highlighting the significance of OPR and channel of communication, Lee et al.

(2012) built off of Kaplan and Haenlein’s (2010) definition and clear social

media as “an electronic communication platform built along the ideological

and technological foundations of Web 2.0 for multi-directional communication,

which enables the development and facilitation of dialogues and

organizational-public relationships” (p. 12). This description of social media

will be used throughout this study.

2.4. Linking Social Media to the Role of Public Relations:

Obviously, social media has rapidly arisen as a vital tool for public relations

professionals. However, just ten years ago, the Internet in general was a little

importance for practitioners (Hill & White, 2000). Although much investigation

is being done in the area (Hill & White, 2000; Levenshus, 2010), technology is

altering as quickly as studies can be conducted and published; furthermore,

the long-term effects of social media are up till future to be fully discovered.

A research by Hill and White in 2000 shows how quickly the tools used by

public relations practitioners can have modification. They found that in 2000,

Internet strategy was low priority for public relations specialists. However, they

did find that even at that time practitioners known the Internet as a possible

tool to accomplish relationships with publics (Hill & White, 2000). “A Web site

was not viewed as a replacement for face-to-face contact, but it Was

perceived as a way to strengthen relationships that already existed, mainly

because of the e-mail function” (Hill & White, 2000, p.42).

The use of virtual tools has grown exponentially since 2000 in cooperation for

public relations practitioners and the people in general, giving scholars a

whole new area to study. Recently, many revisions have observed the use of

new technology by public relations practitioners (Eyrich, Padman, & Sweetser,

2008; Sha & Dozier, 2012; Wright & Hinson, 2009 b). Innovative technologies

more newly adopted are social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter,

Foursquare, YouTube and Pinterest. The agreement of social media has

come at a quicker pace. In 2008, the use of blogs and podcasts was common

between PR specialists, but social networking sites were still utilized by only

24 percent of practitioners (Eyrich, Padman, & Sweetser, 2008). Nowadays,

social networking is considered a crucial part of most public relations

movements.

The use of social networking tackles is part of a tendency that highlights the

importance of two-way or multi-directional communication in public relations

rather than the distribution of information (Deuze, 2007; Van Ruler, Vercic,

Buetschi, & Flodin, 2004; Wright & Hinson, 2009b).

Wright and Hinson (2008a, 2009b) have discovered that most public relations

specialists consider that the use of social media has had a positive influence

on public relations. They have also found that about 85 percent of public

relations professionals believe that these new tools and old-style media

accompaniment each other rather than strive (Wright & Hinson, 2009b). A

larger number of public relations specialists consider that blogs and social

media influence what old-style news media outlets select to cover (Wright &

Hinson, 2008a, 2009b). However, the same revision found that public

relations professionals gave old-style media outlets higher scores on morals,

reliability, precision and truth (Wright & Hinson, 2008a, 2009b). This shows

that although the benefits of social media are known by the industry, old-style

media remains significant and is perceived as more trustworthy.

Where social media fits into organizational roles is a question currently being

examined by researchers (e.g., Lee et al., 2012; Sha & Dozier, 2012). A study

by Diga and Kelleher (2009) looked at whether practitioners that are

predominantly managers or predominantly technicians used social media

more than did the other. They found that there was no significant difference

between the amounts of time practitioners finished on social media for work-

related activities based on their organizational role. Their study, however, did

not take into account the type of things the practitioners were using social

media for.

Sha and Dozier (2012) explored this topic further by including two social

media items in a survey of public relations practitioners. One questionnaire

item was logically linked to the manager role and measured social media use

for environmental scanning, while the other was linked to the technician role

and measured social media use for disseminating information (Sha & Dozier,

2012). Using exploratory factor analysis to see how these utilizations

correlated with the 10-item dichotomous role set (Dozier, Grunig, & Grunig,

1995), they found that the social media items created a third factor separate

from both the manager and technician role measures. Sha and Dozier (2012)

concluded that utilizations of social media or any new tool should not be

treated as role enactments, but rather as consequences of enacting certain

roles. This is consistent with advice given by Dozier and Broom (2006) to

“treat new role set measures as separate constructs for the purpose of

analysis, then correlate them with the original item set” (p. 164).

Lee et al. (2012) used this approach to conceptualize different utilizations of

social media that are consequences of enacting each role. However, these

scholars used Broom’s (1979) original four roles rather than the two-role

dichotomy. “Assigning individuals to the all-encompassing role of ‘manager’

fails to account for variances between tasks, strategies, and methods” used

by public relations practitioners on social media (Lee et al., 2012, p. 4).

In addition to the original four-role typology, they conceptualized four

utilizations of social media: Social Media for One-Way Message

Dissemination, Social Media for Non-Aligned Purposes, Dialogic Social Media

Utilization, and Social Media for Organizational Change (Lee et al., 2012).

Social Media for One-Way Message Dissemination is simply using social

media as a one-way channel to distribute information. Social Media for Non-

Aligned Purposes is when social media practices and goals are unrelated to

the organization’s goals or exist so an organization can simply have a

“presence” on social media. Dialogic Social Media Utilization is using social

media to facilitate open conversation between an organization and publics, as

well as among publics. Social Media for Organizational Change is using social

media to inform strategic decision-making.

Each utilization was logically linked to one of the four roles, leading to their

four suggestions:

S1: Technicians are more likely than practitioners passing other

organizational roles to use social media for one-way message distribution.

S2: Expert prescribers are more likely than practitioners passing other

organizational roles to use social media for non-aligned purposes.

S3: Communication organizers are more likely than practitioners enacting

other organizational roles to use social media for dialogic social media

utilization.

P4: Practitioners enacting the problem-solving implementer role are more

likely than practitioners enacting other organizational roles to use social media

for organizational change. (Lee et al., 2012, p.15-21)

The authors’ four social media utilizations serve as a guide for this study in

regards to the types of tasks new professionals perform on social media.

Although most utilization is rationally related to a role, the social media

utilization concepts were intended to be measured distinctly from role

enactment for the purpose of analysis, as suggested by Dozier and Broom

(2006) and Sha and Dozier (2012). The way a practitioner utilizes social

media may not reflect their role enactment overall (Lee et al., 2012).

2.5. Upcoming PUBLIC RELATIONS PRACTITIONERS

Since social media is often thought to be a tool more normally used by

Generation Y, observing this new generation of public relations practitioner is

a crucial portion of this study.

Generation Y, refers to the age group presently arriving the human capital.

Dates for when this generation starts and ends differ slightly, but usually, the

term Generation Y refers to those born amongst the early 1980s and the mid-

or late 1990s (Gilbert, 2011).

Growing up in the dot-com era, Generation Y are familiar to having the

Internet and other technologies at their disposal. “Like learning a language,

people who start using technology at an earlier age generally have greater

facility with the new language

(technology) than do people who began using it later in their life,” (Deal,

Altman, & Rogelberg, 2010). Hence, Generation Y tends to be more

contented with technology than previous generations (Deal et al., 2010).

There are plenty of Generation X or Baby Boomers that are equally satisfied

with technology, but on average Generation Y are more at ease with the

Internet, smartphones, social networks, etc. (Deal et al., 2010).

Various studies have focused on the writing skills or at least the perceived

writing skills of new public relations practitioners (Cole et al., 2009; Hines &

Basso, 2008; Wise, 2005).

Moving to the writing skills of entry-level specialists which are a anxiety for

specialists already in the field, and many of these knowledgeable practitioners

feel that writing must be highlighted more in undergraduate communications

programs (Cole et al., 2009; Hines & Basso, 2008; Wise, 2005).

Several communication specialists have expressed that the skills of new

communications graduates do not meet their outlooks for essential writing and

editing (Hines & Basso, 2008).

Hines and Basso (2008) originate that many specialists held colleges

responsible for fresh graduates’ lack of essential writing skills. However,

schools claim that writing is a major emphasis in media program (Hines &

Basso, 2008).

The possible explanation for these disagreeing views is the varied collection

of skills that media students must now be showed (Hines & Basso, 2008). As

new communication technologies have been presented, teachers have had to

assign class time to teaching these technologies – potentially taking away

from time expended on writing (Hines & Basso, 2008).

The results from these revisions (i.e., Cole et al., 2009; Hines & Basso, 2008;

Wise, 2005) show quite obviously that public relations specialists' value

writing skills are unhappy with the writing skills of entry-level applicants.

However, if new specialists are spending their time working with social media

and not writing, then their skills are not refining as they would with more

writing experience. The findings from these studies (i.e., Cole, et al.,2009;

Hines & Basso, 2008; Wise, 2005) may also suggest that new professionals

may be assigned to work that they are already skilled at, such as social

media, rather than areas where they may need more practice, such as writing.

2.6. GENDER, INCOME, AND PUBLIC RELATIONS

Moving into another topic which is considered significant to this thesis is

gender and public relations. In the 1970s and 1980s, a huge arrival of women

entering public relations altered the profession from a male to female majority

(Lukovitz, 1989). When large numbers of women enter a formerly male ruled

field, it’s called the feminization of a profession (Adams, 2005).

Public relation thus is not unique in this phenomenon; healthcare human

capital and law field have realized similar variations in latest years (Adams,

2005). Such a move in a profession comes with precise concerns. One

anxiety is the threat of decreased compensation in the industry in general.

Rendering to Levanon, England, and Allison (2009), “occupations with a

greater share of females pay less than those with a lower share, controlling

for education and skill” (p. 865).

There is argument between academics as to whether a women majority

reasons the poorer pay or if females tend to take lower paying jobs than do

males (Levanon et al., 2009). Another anxiety is that the rank of a profession

will decrease as it gains a female majority (Aldoory, 2001; Levanon et al.,

2009).

Much like income, the issue of professional status is one that has been

debated (Adams, 2005). Does a career decrease in position as it gains a

women majority or are female more likely to get jobs in areas of reduced

rank?

Income

Research after research has shown that female practitioners in public

relations make less money than do their male equals. Years of professional

involvement and taking time off to have a new-born are often liable for this

gap, but research has shown that even when controlling for such variables the

gap persists (Aldoory & Toth, 2002; Dozier & Sha, 2010; Dozier, Sha, &

Okura, 2007).

In fact, one research presented that females who did not take a break from

their job to have a new born only earned $148 more yearly than those who did

(Dozier, et al., 2007). The kinds of organizations males and females work for

have also been a scapegoat for the income disparity, but again, even when

this variable is controlled, the salary difference remains (Grunig, Toth, & Hon,

2001).

Newly, Dozier, Sha and Shen (2012) found: gendered income disparity in

public relations can be credited to years of professional experience, executive

role performing, participation in administration decision-making, income-

suppressing career disruptions, and career specialism. However, even with all

these mediating variables accounted for, the average income was $84,368 for

males and $76,063 for females, a difference of $8,305. (p.22)

Previously in the study of public relations roles, the roles were used to

observe the responsibilities performed by males and females (Broom, 1982).

This area of roles research is one that has sustained since, and revisions

have reliably found that females enact the technician role more often than

males do (Broom, 1982; Broom & Dozier, 1986; Cline et al., 1986; Sha &

Dozier, 2011; Toth & Serini, 1998). Amazingly, while females still enact the

technician role more than do males, the most recent study has indicated that

females also enact the executive role as much as males do (Sha & Dozier,

2011), although these authors cautioned that one year’s value of data does

not show a tendency of gender-equitable role performing. Sha and Dozier

(2011) have also found that role performing does account for a small share of

the income difference among males and females, but not all of it. In essence,

females are doing it all, both technician and managerial, but for less money

than are males.

The discussion leftovers as to why women are not advancing to pass mainly

executive roles (Sha & Dozier, 2012). Some believe that females choose to

stay in technician roles because of the focus on expertise and creativeness,

while others claim that a “glass-ceiling” effect prevents females from being

promoted to administration positions (Aldoory & Toth, 2002; Creedon, 1991;

Cline & Toth, 1989; Sha & Dozier, 2011).

2.7. CATEGORIZATION:

The usage of social media tackles is not spread consistently between

practitioners of all ages and knowledge levels (Dozier & Sha, 2012). Many

fresh professionals seem to be starting their occupation as social media

specialists rather than experienced public relations professionals with a

variety of skills—something that may lead them to be categorized in this role.

Traditionally, categorization research in public relations has focused on race

and ethnicity (Ford, 2004; Len-Rios, 1998; Tindall, 2009). According to Broom

and Sha (2012)

categorization is, “the restricting of minority practitioners to working with

minority clients, or dealing with minority publics, even when they might with to

work on ‘mainstream’ public relations programs or accounts,” (p.39).

However, this same concept easily translates to young specialists that may be

categorized for reasons besides race or ethnicity. For instance, Acello (2008)

stated “categorized attorneys are stereotyped in whatever role they started

out in and in numerous cases find themselves caught in a career rut” (p. 36).

This is often the case when attorneys are good at whatever sort of case they

first take on so their administrators or the associates at their firm are unwilling

to risk giving them other jobs, even if they ask for them (Acello, 2008). The

anxiety is that they may leave the area they have already excelled in or may

not be as skilled in the areas they have yet to try (Acello, 2008).

The categorization of new public relations experts may be similar to that of

attorneys. This study shall inspect whether new public relations professionals

are starting as social media experts and becoming jammed in that role

because they have the most involvement and skill in that area.

A revision by Heyman Associates, Inc. looked at the profession patterns and

attributes that led public relations specialists to stand out as mainly successful

(Heyman, 2004).

One of their top results was that, “diverse work experience, more than years

of experience alone, adds to the possibility of success” (Heyman, 2004, p.

45).

The categorization of new experts as social media technicians may also have

a negative result on more experienced communication technicians that are

not learning these new skills that have become gradually desired. Johnson

(1997) found that public relations practitioners who felt they were unaware

about certain technologies believed they must decrease the knowledge gap

among them and more knowledgeable professionals in order to keep their

self-identity within the profession.

3. Chapter three (research Methodology)

3.1 Research method:

The objective of this document is to find out which of categorization could

affect the social media roles of the PR Practitioner, in addition to which skilled

could got affected by the new roles in the field of PR, and the last

investigation about what does fresh practitioner think about the social media

role. The selected research approach has a form of academic analysis with a

subsequent empirical illustration, which has been passed out on the

foundation of an appraisal conducted among Limkokwing University

Communication and public relation (MBA) and BA students, and some fresh

entrant to the PR field in EY Public relation agency in Kazakhstan. The

process of analysis that has been chosen is a deductive approach. The

analysis starts from the most significant, factors of this study .

The choice to concern a quantitative research comes from the fact that the list

of Public relations roles could be developed from theories and other

researchers’ studies. If there was no research on that subject a qualitative

approach would be more suitable way to collect data. As early understanding

of a matter has been already developed quantitative interviewing is chosen.

The numerical nature of data gives opportunity to spot the most important

motivating factors. As well as that, it allows generalizing outcome and

characterizing an exacting group of people. Also, it provides opportunity to

evaluate results with prior findings and to see if there is a consensus on that

particular subject.

3.1.1 Information gathering:

The primary part of the study is based on findings from the journalism and

previous research Public relations practitioner roles. It consists of scholar’s

theoretical study in which they created and explained ideas upon this study

topic area. EBESCO and spring Link online libraries data base contains a

large amount of books on the subject, and was a basic cause of information.

Records provide contact to Business communication a Source Complete

Database which was used as the major tool to search for related articles on

the topic. The keywords used to seek were: “Social media”, “Public relations

Practitioner roles”, “Generation Y”, jobs and categorizations” and “New Public

Relations”.

3.1.2 Data collection:

The second part of the study is based on a questioner administrated to

students at Limkokwing University Communication and public relation (MBA)

and BA students, and some fresh entrant to the PR field in EY Public relation

agency in Kazakhstan The mean of the questioner is to discover which

categories of Upcoming PR practitioner has a better awareness about the

social media PR The instrument that has been chosen to gather data is self-

administrated survey. This kind of collecting information does not need

interviewer. Respondents are asked to fill up the survey and they read

instruction on their own, questionier was online distributed, questions were

sent by an e-mail, Facebook, and Google plus social networks, with an

attachment survey. The most obvious reason for using this distribution

method is the advantage of an internet based survey is its low costs and the

ability to cover a large group of students. Response rates may often be low

when doing a survey by email which is a consequence from the lower level of

control in this type of data collection. The phase of data gathering is long and

respondents might be not motivated to fill out the survey when they receive an

email or may simply forget about it. As a result a response prejudice may

happen if some of subgroups are more possible to collaborate than others. In

order to achieve high response rate questionnaires.

Additionally in order to avoid the duplication in the surveying, I ensured that

the group of students that participated did not receive Emails with invitation to

internet based survey more than one time.

3.1.3 Questionnaire

Questionnaire (Appendix) consists of three questions connected to the usage

of social media as public relations practitioner roles, three demographical

questions and question about having field related job experience.

Respondents are learned about privacy and secret character of the survey.

They are encouraged to get a part in a survey in by information that

participation does not take much of their time. In the questions respondents

are asked to rank eight questions in the light of their current knowledge and/or

experience which each of them: 1=Strongly agree….5=Strongly disagree.

Second question consist of. Part(C) is an optional question as an open-ended

question with a space for stating why the respondents chose the technical or

tactical role of PR in Social Media. Demographic part contains questions

about respondents’ gender, Current or expected income, degree of education.

The last question asks if respondents have field related job experience. The

internet based questionnaire has exactly the same form as the paper based

questionnaire. There is the same order of questions and the same graphic

design.

3.2 Choosing Areas of investigation

The choice to look into particular factors comes from a literature review and

previous research on that subject. The eight questions that have been

selected are:

• Social Media Trend in PR and the traditional PR tools.

• The importance of Dealing with social media in the job.

• Social Medial skills replacing the other traditional skills like (press

release/ communication facilitation).

• The significance of practitioner role in Social Media, within PR agency.

• The gap among generations as PR practitioners using social media.

• Having Social Media skills will lead to a better career conditions.

• Is the PR role in social media Technical?

• Is the PR role in social media Tactical (strategic)

3.3 Sample:

In this study two groups of Respondents are taken into concern. The first

group consists of students from Limkokwing University of Creative

Technology LUCT, the student are all related to the field of PR and

Communication from both Bachelor, and Master students , while the second

group consists of fresh (less than six month experience Public relation

practitioner from EY PR agency in Kazakhstan.

110 respondents was back out of the 125 distributed questionier originally, in

addition 7 respondents out of 110 were ignored due to non-serious

respondent, and to avoid non-confidential findings and results, thus 103

respondent will be the real sample, this study will show the result about.

3.4. Research Framework:

GENDER

Expected/Current income

Educational Qualification

Social Media PR Role perception

Field related Past

Experience

PR Role in Social media is

Tactical/Technical

Social media Skill is affecting other tradition

PR skills

3.5 Research Hypothesis:

Hypothesis (1): The categorization of Gender, Current/expected income,

educational qualification, and field past experience is affecting the upcoming

practitioner perception about the PR role in social media.

Hypothesis (2): The upcoming practitioner perception about the PR role in

social media affects the traditional skills of PR of the practitioner.

Hypothesis (3): The upcoming practitioner perception about the PR role in

social media is creating the perception of that same role to be either technical

or Tactical (strategic).

4. CHAPTER FOUR (Data Analysis)

4.1. Part (A) the demographics of the sample:

A1. Gender:

It was too important to differentiate the genders of respondents due to the

differences in psychology, and perceptions, and just in order to understand

the differences in the responds, all of these are because the psychological

nature of the study; the 103 responds were generated from 57 of males, and

46 of females, as shown in the following table.

Gender

Frequen

cy Percent

Valid

Percent

Cumulativ

e Percent

Valid Male 57 55.3 55.3 55.3

Fema

le

46 44.7 44.7 100.0

Total 103 100.0 100.0

Gender

female

male

A2. The families' monthly income

It is significant to realize the different in monthly income of the studied sample,

in order to figure out, the effects of monetary background on the values of PR

role perception and figure out whether the income of the job affect the

perception of PR social media role, this study used the Dollar of united States

as a unit because the study were done among two different countries

(Malaysia, and Kazakhstan) therefore After the study of the data generated

from the gathered questionier the result showed that:

.less than 700 US $ : it was 29 respondsأأ .1

2. Between 700 to 1000 US$: it was 53 responds.

3. Above 1000 US$: it was 21 responds.

The following table shows the data described above, which represents the

Current/expected monthly income of the respondents.

Current/expected Income

Frequen

cy Percent

Valid

Percent

Cumulativ

e Percent

Valid Below

700 US $ 29 28.2 28.2 28.2

700 to

1000 US

$

53 51.5 51.5 79.6

Above

1000

US$

21 20.4 20.4 100.0

Total 103 100.0 100.0

A3. The Educational Qualification:

The degree of education which participant finished is more important that it

appears, because in addition to the possibility of linking it to knowledge/

experience, it could be an indicator to the differences in values among the

undergraduate practitioner, and the post graduate ones.

1. The numbers of respondents from undergraduate (bachelor) were: 63

responds.

2. The numbers of respondent from Postgraduate (Master) were: 40

responds.

The following table shows the distribution of The Educational Qualification

among the 103 respond.

Frequen

cy Percent

Valid

Percent

Cumulativ

e Percent

Valid Under-

graduate 63 61.2 61.2 61.2

Post-

graduate

40 38.8 38.8 100.0

Total 103 100.0 100.0

A4. Field Job experience.

This factor is important because the result will indicate the difference PR

social media role perception and the field job experience phenomenon, so the

analyze of the responds showed that:

1. The number of respondents without a Field Job experience of study was:

52

2. The number of respondents with a Field Job experience of study was: 51

The following table shows the frequencies of the a Field Job experience

phenomenon among the sample elements.

Field Job experience

Frequen

cy Percent

Valid

Percent

Cumulativ

e Percent

Valid No 52 50.5 50.5 50.5

Yes

51

49.5

49.5

100.0

Total

103

100.0

100.0

4.2. Part B: the analysis of the second question:

This study used a likert (5) scale to analyze the response for eight questions

the study mentioned before, thus the Mean of all variables were calculated,

and then it were ranked starting from the less numerical value, because the

answers were ranked as the following:

Strongly Agree: 1

Agree: 2

Natural: 3

Disagree: 4

Strongly Disagree: 5

4.2.1Descriptive Statistics

N Mean

Std.

Deviation

1. Do you think Social Media Trend in

PR is replacing the traditional PR tools? 103 1.51 0.712

2. Do you believe that Dealing with

social media will be an important skill

for you in the job?

103 2.05 0.922

3. Would your Social Medial skills

replace the other traditional skills like

(press release)?

103 2.09 0.781

4. How significant is your role in Social

Media, within PR agency?

103 2.18 0.988

5. Do you think there is a gap among

your generation (as a PR practitioner)

and the older generation in the terms of

social media usage?

103 2.19 0.961

6. Do you think that having Social

Media skills will provide the practitioner

a better career conditions?

103 2.24 1.005

7. based on your knowledge and/or

experience is the PR role in social

media Technical?

103 2.54 0.937

8. based on your knowledge and/or

experience is the PR role in social

media Tactical (strategic)?

103 2.65 1.37

We can notice from analysis of the questions ranking, based on the less Mean

the following:

1. Do you think Social Media Trend in PR is replacing the traditional PR tools?

2. Do you believe that Dealing with social media will be an important skill for you in the

job?

3. Would your Social Medial skills replace the other traditional skills like (press

release)?

4. How significant is your role in Social Media, within PR agency?

5. Do you think there is a gap among your generation (as a PR practitioner) and the

older generation in the terms of social media usage?

6. Do you think that having Social Media skills will provide the practitioner a better

career conditions?

7. based on your knowledge and/or experience is the PR role in social media

Technical?

8. based on your knowledge and/or experience is the PR role in social media Tactical

(strategic).

.

4.2.2The study of variables:

The core differences among the motivational variables and the demographic

variables were studies, on the scales of:

1. Independent t test scale to study the demographic variables which

have two answers (Gender, educational qualification, field job

experience).

2. One way Anova to study the variables which were been answered as a

ranges (current/ expected Income).

In addition to using compare sig tabular value at the 0.05 level of significance

and study answers means, thus each of the motivational variables were

studied with the four demographic variables as the following (the tables with

statistical differences indications were listed, and will be included in the

appendix).

The following results were obtained:

Q1. Social Media Trend in PR is replacing the traditional PR tools.

There were statistically significant differences between the Current/expected

income of the individual variable and variable Social Media Trend in PR is

replacing the traditional PR tools at the 0.05 level of significance

Descriptive (income 1)

Social Media Trend in PR is replacing the traditional PR tools.

N Mean

Std.

Deviation

Std.

Error

95% Confidence

Interval for Mean

Lower

Bound

Upper

Bound

Below 700 $ 29 1.59 .682 .127 1.33 1.85

700 -1000 $ 53 2.47 1.012 .139 2.19 2.75

Above 1000 $ 21 2.57 .978 .213 2.13 3.02

Total 103 2.24 1.005 .099 2.05 2.44

ANOVA (income 2)

Social Media Trend in PR is replacing the traditional PR tools.

Sum of

Squares Df

Mean

Square F Sig.

Between

Groups 17.547 2 8.774 10.275 .000

Within

Groups 85.385 100 .854

Total 102.932 102

We note from the table (income 2) the presence of statistically significant

differences between Current/expected income variable and variable Social

Media Trend in PR is replacing the traditional PR tools.as the value of sig

0.000< 0.05 at the 0.05 level of significance.

Shown to our table (income 2) that varied answers respondents depending on

Current/expected income, where we note that individuals who have

Current/expected income less than 700 was inclined to attention more

variable job security, where the mean answers 1.59 and for individuals with

incomes between 700-1000 was interested less for variable where the mean

answer was 2.47 individuals who have income of more than 1000 were less

interested variable And in deed this indicates that the differences of

individuals' Current/expected income influence the extent of his perception

about Social Media Trend in PR is replacing the traditional PR tools., where

the change of Current/expected income leads to a change the value of

individuals about the importance of this variable..

Thus persons with Current/expected income less inclined more interesting

variable Social Media Trend in PR is replacing the traditional PR tools.

So this indicates to the direction of less income earners to pay interest in a

variable Social Media Trend in PR is replacing the traditional PR tools.as at

the level of low-income, individual tends to the feeling of desire to improve his

work, because it is the source of income, So the greater the individual's sense

of improving and continuity development in the work the more stimulated, as

to ensure continuation due to providing him his return and basic income.

Q2. Do you believe that Dealing with social media will be an

important skill for you in the job?

a. There were statistically significant differences between the Gender of

the individual variable and variable social media will be an important

skill for you in the job at the 0.05 level of significance:

Group Statistics (gender 1)

Gender N Mean

Std.

Deviation

Std.

Error

Mean

Social Male 57 3.04 .778 .103

media

important

skill

Female 46 2.63 .878 .130

Independent Samples Test (gender 2)

t-test for Equality of Means

T df

Sig.

(2-

tailed

)

Mean

Differ

ence

Std.

Error

Differe

nce

95% Confidence

Interval of the

Difference

Lower Upper

Social media

important

skill

Equal

variances

assumed

2.47

6 101 .015 .40 .163 .081 .729

Equal

variances not

assumed

2.44

5

90.80

6 .016 .40 .166 .076 .733

We note from the table (gender 2) there are significant differences between

the Gender of the individual variable and variable Social media important skill,

where the value of the sig 0.015 < 0.05 at the 0.05 level of significance.

This suggests that the differences in the Gender of the individual influence the

extent of his interest in the variable Social media important skill, where the

change of the individual Gender leads to a change in individuals' sight about

the importance of this variable.

Shown to our table (gender 1) that answers respondents varied depending on

the Gender of the individual, where we note that females are more likely to

pay attention to Social media important skill variable where the mean answer

was 2.63 while for males was less variable interest where the mean answers

of the sample of male 3.04.

Thus Females are more likely to pay attention to variable Social media

important skill than males.

This result shows that females tend to pay more attention in the variable

Social media important skill, where they are mostly, because generally

females have stronger tendency and their purpose mostly to be different from

others and unique, in addition they want usually to ensure the self-

development, especially in a (Males-society) to a large extent, thus the more

the females work, tasks and responsibilities are important, the more females

are stimulated to their jobs.

B. There were statistically significant differences between the individuals'

Educational qualification variable and the variable Interesting work at

the 0.05 level of significance.

Group Statistics (Education)

Degree N Mean

Std.

Deviation

Std.

Error

Mean

Social media

important skill

Undergraduate 63 2.98 .793 .100

Postgraduate 40 2.65 .893 .141

Independent Samples Test (Education 2)

We note from the table (education 2) there are significant differences between

the individuals' educational qualification variable and the variable Social

media important skill, where the value of the sig 0.05< 0.05 at the 0.05 level of

significance.

Shown to our table (education 1) that varied answers of the respondents

according to the educational degree where he/she taught in which an

individual where we note that the postgraduates are more likely to pay

attention to Social media important skill work where the mean answers 2.65


t Df

Sig. (2-

tailed)

Mean

Differ

ence

Std. Error

Difference

95% Confidence

Interval of the

Difference

Lower Upper

Social media

important

skill

Equal

variances

assumed

1.98

4 101 .050 .33 .168 .000 .668

Equal

variances not

assumed

1.93

2

75.86

4 .057 .33 .173 -.010 .679

As for the undergraduates was the concern is less variable, where the mean

Answers members the sample of students from the undergraduates 2.98

This suggests that differences in the individuals' educational qualification have

an impact on the of his interest level in a variable Social media important skill,

where the change in individuals' educational qualification, leads to a change in

the sights of individuals of the importance of this variable.

Thus postgraduate students are more likely to pay attention to variable

interesting work of students from the undergraduate. And the result indicate

that students of postgraduate tend to pay more interest in the variable Social

media important skill, and this refers to the method of students of private

universities teaching, which focus largely, (through seminars and direct

training in companies) on the quality of work and the nature of the tasks and

responsibilities more than teaching methods in undergraduates which focus

to some extent on the theoretical teaching methods which by itself reduces

students' attention to the quality of work and its importance.

Q3. Would your Social Medial skills replace the other traditional skills

like (press release)?

There were statistically significant differences between the gender of the

individual variable and social media replacing traditional tools variable at the

0.05 level of significance:

Group Statistics (GENDER 1)

Gender N Mean

Std.

Deviation

Std.

Error

Mean

Social

media

replacing

traditional

tools

Male 57 2.47 .966 .128

Female 46 1.85 .842 .124

Independent Samples Test (GENDER 2 )


the Gender of the individual variable and variable Social media replacing

traditional tools, where the value of the sig 0.001 < 0.05 at the 0.05 level of

significance.


t df

Sig. (2-

tailed)

Mean

Differen

ce

Std.

Error

Differen

ce

95% Confidence

Interval of the

Difference

Lower Upper

Social

media

replacing

traditional

tools

Equal variances

assumed 3.46

0 101 .001 .63 .181 .267 .985

Social

media

replacing

traditional

tools

Equal variances

not assumed 3.51

1

100.35

5 .001 .63 .178 .272 .980

This suggests that the differences of individual gender have an influence on

his interest level in the variable Social media replacing traditional tools, where

the change in individual Gender leads to a change in the individuals' sight to

the importance of this variable.

Shown to our table (GENDER 1) that varied answers of the respondents

according to gender of the individual, where we note that females are more

likely to pay attention to variable Social media replacing traditional tools,

where the mean Answers female 1.85 As for males was concern less

variable, where the mean Answers members sample of male 2.47,

Thus we can notice that female is more toward the variable Social media

replacing traditional tools than males. This suggests that females are more

concern about their skills and the balance among them.

b. There were statistically significant differences between the individuals'

educational qualification variable and Social media replacing traditional

tools variable at the 0.05 level of significance

c.

Group Statistics (Education 1)

Degree N Mean

Std.

Deviation

Std.

Error

Mean

Social media

replacing

traditional tools

undergraduate 63 2.35 .919 .116

Postgraduate 40 1.95 .986 .156



T df

Sig.

(2-

tailed)

Mean

Differen

ce

Std.

Error

Differenc

e

95% Confidence

Interval of the

Difference

Lower Upper

Social media

replacing

traditional

tools

Equal

variances

assumed

2.08

9 101 .039 .40 .191 .020 .778

Social media

replacing

traditional

tools

Equal

variances not

assumed

2.05

6

78.79

2 .043 .40 .194 .013 .786

We note from the table (Education 2) there are significant differences between

the individuals' educational qualification variable and the variable Social

media replacing traditional tools, where the value of the sig 0.039< 0.05 at the

0.05 level of significance. This suggests that differences in individuals'

Educational qualification have an impact on his interest in a Social media

replacing traditional tools, where the change in the individuals' Educational

qualification leads to a change in the individuals' sight about the importance of

this variable.

Shown to our table (education 1) that answers respondents varied according

to the Educational qualification where an individual taught. which Where we

note that postgraduates are more likely to pay attention to Social media

replacing traditional tools variable where the mean answer was 1.95 As for

the students of undergraduates less variable interest where the mean

answers of the respondents of 2.35.

so the result indicate that postgraduate students tend to pay interest in the

variable Social media replacing traditional tools, and this interest refers to the

method of teaching and the degree of knowledge that have been mentioned

previously, especially everything related to the importance of Self

development, and the importance of keeping skills balance.

Q4. How significant is your role in Social Media, within PR agency?

.There were statistically significant differences between the individual's

Current/expected income variable and variable role significance in social

media at the 0.05 level of significance:


Role significance in social media (income 1)

N Mean

Std.

Deviation

Std.

Error

Minimu

m

Maximu

m

Below 700 $ 29 1.17 .384 .071 1 2

700 - 1000 $ 53 1.30 .463 .064 1 2

Above 1000 $ 21 2.52 .680 .148 1 3

Total 103 1.51 .712 .070 1 3

ANOVA (income 2)

Role significance in social media

Sum of

Squares Df

Mean

Square F Sig.

Between

Groups 27.182 2 13.591 55.371 .000

Within

Groups 24.546 100 .245

Total 51.728 102


differences between Current/expected income variable and the variable role

significance in social media, where the value of the sig 0.000< 0.05 at the

0.05 level of significance. This indicates that the differences of individuals'

Current/expected income influence his degree of interest in the variable role

significance in social media, where the change in Current/expected income

leads to a change in the individual's sights to the importance of this variable.


Current/expected income, where we note that individuals who have

Current/expected income less than 700 was inclined to attention more

variable role significance in social media, where the mean answers 1.17 and

for individuals with incomes between 700-1000 was interested less for

variable where the mean answer was 1.30 individuals who have income of

more than 1000 were less interested variable.

This result ideates the reason of paying attention to the variable role

significance in social media, is indeed the low income, because persons with

low Current/expected income consider that the most important purpose of job

is the good financial return, so they pay more attention to their PR roles than

others, thus the better wages and returns individual get, the more he/she was

motivated to his/her job, because it is the only way to increase his/her income,

and make his/her general situation better.

So the larger individuals' Current/expected income was, the stronger tendency

toward other phenomenon of PR roles.

We should note that role significance in social media is one of the most

important motivational factors, to all of the different income classes, but still

this importance increase when the Current/expected income is lower.

Q5. Do you think there is a gap among your generation (as a PR

practitioner) and the older generation in the terms of social media

usage?

A. There were statistically significant differences between the

Gender of the individual variable and variable gap among

generations in media usage at the 0.05 level of significance:


Gender N Mean

Std.

Deviation

Std.

Error

Mean

Gap among

generations

in media

usage

Male 57 2.86 .854 .113

Female 46 2.15 .894 .132



t df

Sig. (2-

tailed)

Mean

Differenc

e

Std.

Error

Differe

nce

95% Confidence

Interval of the

Difference

Lower Upper

Gap among

generations in

media usage

Equal variances

assumed 4.09

3 101 .000 .71 .173 .365 1.050

Equal variances

not assumed

4.07

3

94.53

9 .000 .71 .174 .363 1.052


the Gender of the individual variable and Gap among generations in media

usage, where the value of the sig 0.000 < 0.05 at the 0.05 level of

significance.

This suggests that the differences in individuals' gender influences his interest

in the variable Gap among generations in media usage, where the change in

the individual gender leads to a change in the individuals sights to the

importance of this variable


according to sex of the individual, where we note that females are more likely

to pay attention to Gap among generations in media usage, where the mean

Answers female 2:15 As for males was less variable interest where the mean

answers of male respondents 2.82

Thus we can note that females have stronger tendency toward understanding

Gap among generations in media usage than males. Since the females ability

to understand the gaps of generations more than males.

Q6. Do you think that having Social Media skills will provide the

practitioner a better career conditions?

a. There were statistically significant differences between the Gender of the

individual variable and social media skills and better career conditions

variable at the 0.05 level of significance:


Gender N Mean

Std.

Deviation

Std.

Error

Mean

social media

skills and

better

career

conditions

Male 57 1.82 .889 .118

Female 46 2.33 .896 .132



t Df

Sig.

(2-

tailed)

Mean

Differen

ce

Std.

Error

Differen

ce

95% Confidence

Interval of the

Difference

Lower Upper

social media

skills and better

career

conditions

Equal variances

assumed -

2.837 101 .006 -.50 .177 -.852 -.151

Equal variances

not assumed

-

2.835

96.14

6 .006 -.50 .177 -.853 -.150

We note from the table (GENDER 2) there are significant differences between

the gender of the individual variable and variable social media skills and better

career conditions, where the value of the sig 0.006< 0.05 at the 0.05 level of

significance..

This suggests that the differences of the individuals' gender influence the

extent of his interest in variable social media skills and better career

conditions where the change of the individuals' gender leads to a change in

the sight of individuals about the importance of this variable.


according to sex of the individual, where we note that males are more likely to

pay attention to variable social media skills and better career conditions,

where the mean Answers male 1.82 As for females was concern less

variable, where the mean answers of the respondents females 2.33.

Thus males have stronger tendency toward having a better career path in the

organization than females. This is due to the psychological nature of males,

especially regarding the issue of excellence and development, where they are

more likely than females toward promotion at work and the attached moral

and financial returns which pull males attention, and satisfy their needs of

development, especially in a (male-society).

Q7. Based on your knowledge and/or experience is the PR role in social

media Technical?

a. There were statistically significant differences between the individual's

Current/expected income variable and variable Technical roles of PR social

media at the 0.05 level:


Technical roles of PR social media

N Mean

Std.

Deviation

Std.

Error

Minimu

m

Maximu

m

Below 7000 $ 29 1.97 .778 .145 1 3

700 – 1000 $ 53 2.11 .954 .131 1 5

Above 1000 $ 21 2.67 1.197 .261 1 5

Total 103 2.18 .988 .097 1 5

ANOVA (income 2)

Technical roles of PR social media

Sum of

Squares Df

Mean

Square F Sig.

Between

Groups 6.542 2 3.271 3.519 .033

Within

Groups 92.953 100 .930

Total 99.495 102


differences between Current/expected income variable and the variable

Technical roles of PR social media where the value of the sig 0.033< 0.05 at

the 0.05 level of significance


Current/expected income, where we note that individuals who have income of

less than 7000 was inclined to pay attention more on the variable Technical

roles of PR social media where the mean answers 1.79 and for individuals

with incomes between 7000 - 1000 was less interest for that variable, where

the mean answer was 2.11 individuals whose income more than 1000 were

much less interested in the variable.

This indicates that the differences of the individuals' Current/expected income

influences the level of interest in the variable Technical roles of PR social

media, So the Individual income change leads to a change in the individuals'

sight of the importance of this variable.

Thus persons with less Current/expected income have stronger tendency to

the variable Technical roles of PR social media. This suggests that low

Current/expected income earners tend to focus on their work blue labor

(technical),.

Q8. Based on your knowledge and/or experience is the PR role in social

media Tactical (Strategic)?

a. There were statistically income significant differences between the

individual's Current/expected income variable and variable Tactical roles of

PR social media at the 0.05 level:


Tactical roles of PR social media

N Mean

Std.

Deviation

Std.

Error

Minimu

m

Maximu

m

Below 700 $ 29 3.83 1.136 .211 1 5

700-1000 $ 53 3.47 1.462 .201 1 5

Above 1000 $ 21 2.38 1.161 .253 1 4

Total 103 3.35 1.405 .138 1 5

ANOVA (income 2)

Tactical roles of PR social media

Sum of

Squares Df

Mean

Square F Sig.

Between

Groups 27.120 2 13.560 7.780 .001

Within

Groups 174.298 100 1.743

Total 201.417 102


differences between Current/expected income variable and the variable of

tactical roles of PR social media where the value of the sig 0.001< 0.05 at the

0.05 level of significance


Current/expected income, where we note that individuals who have current/

expected income of more than 1000 was inclined to pay attention more

variable Tactical roles of PR social media where the mean answers 2.38 and

for individuals with incomes between 700 -1000 was less interest for that

variable, where the mean answer was 3.47 individuals whose income is less

than 700 were much less interested in the variable.

This indicates that the differences of the individuals' Current/expected income

influence the degree of interest in Tactical roles of PR social media, where the

change in Current/expected income leads to a change in the sight of

individuals about the importance of this variable.

Thus persons with more Current/expected income have stronger tendency to

the variable Tactical roles of PR social media. That’s' because the differences

of social classes, which varies according to increase of families income level,

where you can see more attention into the strategic roles of the job, and it’s a

more effective with the higher income earner, while it has less effect within the

lower Current/expected income holder.

b. There were statistically significant differences between the

individual's educational qualification variable and variable Tactical

roles of PR social media at the 0.05 level.

Group Statistics (Education 1)

Degree N Mean

Std.

Deviation

Std.

Error

Mean

Tactical roles of

PR social media

undergraduate 63 3.59 1.303 .164

Postgraduate 40 2.98 1.493 .236



T Df

Sig.

(2-

tailed)

Mean

Differen

ce

Std.

Error

Differen

ce

95% Confidence

Interval of the

Difference

Lower Upper

Technical

roles of PR

social media

Equal

variances

assumed

2.19

5 101 .030 .61 .279 .059 1.166

Technical

roles of PR

social media

Equal

variances not

assumed

2.12

9

74.82

0 .037 .61 .288 .039 1.185

We note from the table (Education 2) there are significant differences between

the individuals' educational qualifications variable and the variable Tactical

roles of PR social media, where the value of the sig 0.03< 0.05 at the 0.05

level of significance.

Shown to our table (Education 1) that varied answers respondents depending

degree of education, where we note that individuals whom are postgraduated

was inclined to pay more attention to the variable Tactical roles of PR social

media where the mean answers 2.98 and for individuals who are

undergraduate was less interest for that variable, where the mean answer

was 3.59. This suggests that differences of individuals' educational

qualification have impact on the interest in the variable Tactical roles of PR

social media, where the change in the Individuals' educational qualification

leads to a change in the sight of individuals about the importance of this

variable.

Thus postgraduate students have stronger tendency toward Tactical roles of

PR social media, than undergraduate. This is due to the nature of society in

the private universities, which to some extent concerned with more tact and

social customs related, such as the teaching methods and, so we see that

there is no significant difference between the averages and therefore close

degree of interest in variable Tactical roles of PR social media among

students in both universities.

4.3. Part (C):

Regarding the last two questions (7) & (8) would you state why you

choose technical/tactical briefly?

This part was not included in the data analysis such as parts A and B, but still

we have to mention the higher frequently answers were written in order to

high light some new or important factor, this study might be ignored on

purpose, or did not notice before.

So we have to say that most of the parts (C) this study receive were empty

because it was an optional part, however there were some respondent that

are varied and could not mentioned by one due to the large number of the

sample .

But still I received more than one frequent answers but this study will highlight

the most and only the most important factor, based on the most frequency

answers.

Thus the most frequently answer was the participants admitted that they used

social media for one-way message dissemination as discussed by Lee et al.

(2012).

However, it was recognized that this might not be the best use of social media

platforms. One participant said, “truth fully, a lot of it [my social media use] is

one way. There are conversations where we are on Twitter or Facebook and

someone will ask a question and I’m responding to that, but for the most part

it’s…this is what our company is doing. It definitely could be improved

A minority of participants claimed to be heavily involved in the planning of

social media campaigns. However, there were a couple of exceptions. One

participant that was an account executive at an agency actually said he did

more planning and strategy writing and the account coordinator he supervised

did the actual implementation. Another participant who did not manage any

social media pages for clients said she was still involved in brainstorming and

planning for clients that decide to start in the social media realm.

Chapter Five (Results, Recommendations, and Conclusions).

4.1. Results and Findings

1. .There were statistically significant differences between the

Gender variable and the following questions respectively:, a gap

among generations, PR role in social media Technical, social

media will be an important skill, PR role in social media Tactical

(Strategic), Social Medial skills replace the other traditional

skills.

2. Females have a stronger tendency toward: a gap among

generations, and then PR role in social media Technical than

males.

3. Males have stronger tendency toward social media will be an

important skill, PR role in social media Tactical (Strategic), than

females.

4. The most important variable for males is social media will be an

important skill, and then the second one is PR role in social

media Tactical (Strategic).

5. The most important variable for females in the samples is. a gap

among generations, and then PR role in social media Technical

after.

6. .There were statistically significant differences between the

individuals' current/expected income variable and the following

variables respectively (social media skills and better career

conditions - PR role in social media Technical - social media will

be an important skill - significant is your role in Social Media,

within PR agency - PR role in social media Tactical (Strategic)

Social Medial skills replace the other traditional skills.

7. Individuals with current/expected income less than 700 US $

have stronger tendency toward the following variables :( social

media skills and better career conditions Social Media Trend in

PR is replacing the traditional PR tools - social media will be an

important skill - PR role in social media Tactical (Strategic) -

more than other income classes.

8. Individuals with family income from 700 to 1000 US $ have

stronger tendency toward the following variable: Social Medial

skills replace the other traditional skills more than other classes.

9. Individuals with a family income more than 1000 US $ have

stronger tendency toward the following variable: PR role in

social media Tactical (Strategic).

10. The most important variable for individuals' current/expected

income less than 700 US$ is :( social media skills and better

career conditions Social Media Trend in PR is replacing the

traditional PR tools after.

11. The most important variable for individuals' current/expected

income (700-1000) is Social Medial skills replace the other

traditional skills more than other classes.

12. The most important variable for individuals' Current/expected

income more than 1000 is PR role in social media Tactical

(Strategic).

13. There were statistically significant differences between the

individuals' Educational qualification variable and the following

variable: social media skills and better career conditions

14. The Individuals whom are postgraduates have stronger

tendency toward the following motivational factors: social media

skills and better career More than undergraduate individuals.

15. The individuals whom are undergraduate, had stronger

tendency toward Social Media replacing traditional PR roles,

and Social Media skills are replacing other traditional PR skills,.

16. There were no statistically significant differences between the

field job experience and any of studied categorization.

17. The most important variable for individuals whom have a field

job experience Social Media replacing traditional PR roles, and

Social media role importance.

18. The most important variable for individuals whom does not have

a field job experience is Social Media replacing traditional PR

roles, and Social media role importance.

4.2. Results Discussion:

After examining and exploring the numerical results of the statistical analysis

we can notice that the role perception of the PR practitioner could be affected

by a lot of categorization such as Gender, current/expected income, and

educational qualification.

However the field job experience did not appear to have the same effect of

social media role perception as much as the other categories and this could

be referred to the nature of the sample whom were all from the new

generations of PR practitioner (19-25 years old) University Students, whom

from both genders, and from three different income classes, and not all have

jobs.

Another effect which we cannot ignore is the effect of culture on the

responses because the responses came from multinational individuals whom

have different backgrounds, thus we can come up with a result that

according to Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions, some cultures culture is

appears as a High masculine country: Which dominates by money, and

success. Stress earnings, recognition, advancement, challenge, wealth; high

job stress, while others are High feminine countries: this emphasizes caring

for others and quality of life; cooperation, friendly atmosphere, employment

security, group decision making; low job stress, and this appears more to a

group approach.

In addition to the cultural affect we cannot ignore that perception is a variable

of past experiences and knowledge and most of the participant had no or few

months experience in the field of Public Relations.

4.3. Recommendation:

This study was initiated and directed in order to help the PR agencies all over

the world; privet, or public, in another words it was a guide line to guide

employers when they want to design the job, in the first place, with its

specification, description, and requirements, to know who they need to fill in

the position, just in order to be the most effective and efficient in his/her work.

This study can also help the PR agencies or the employers in designing and

making a very impressive PR jobs, and make it pull only the wanted

individuals to apply for the position fulfillment, by enroll and highlight the

specific tasks of practitioner role, and the required skills to accomplish it.

The most appearing recommendation in these results: it is advised to PR

agencies to highlight the importance of Social Media in the new age PR, and

to understand more the role perception of PR practitioners among the

generation (Y).

4.4. Conclusion and future research

The aim of this paper is to observe which of the social media in PR elements

are considered as the most important by PR practitioners. The theoretical part

of the thesis showed that a character of Social media in PR roles is very

difficult and there are no simple answers to the question what is exactly the

role perception of media within PR upcoming practitioner.

The results of the study conducted in order to discover and analyze elements

of the perception among the new and upcoming Generation (Y) practitioner.

Those results propose that executives and PR experts who deal with

students or fresh graduates should not stand only on Traditional PR tools and

tasks. On the other hand, although Social media role is powerful, they are not

likely to lead to the best performance if they are the only foundation PR roles.

The results of this research suggest that the most suitable Role perception

should try to satisfy a selection of Tasks from more than one kind. The ideal

job for future PR practitioner should combine the tasks from both traditional

and new trend of PR. Also, the work Research on bigger sample size would

allow generalizing the conclusion to the whole population of PR upcoming

practitioner.

Future research could also think about other elements that might affect the

Role perception, Finally, a longitude study that compare the fresh practitioners

and the Older ones (with more field experience) will show a better results and

will give a better understanding about what categories can affect the Social

Media Role in PR.

The Significance of Upcoming PR Practitioner as a Social Media

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