Nearly every day you will
hear someone ask a question, if the question can't be answered, the most common
response is 'google it'. With a simple search you can generally find the answer
to anything. Whether the information is true or not, that is the question. The crucial first step in the public relations process is research (Wilcox, Cameron, Reber & Shin 2013). 'Research provides knowledge, formulates strategy, inspires confidence and ensure practitioners achieve desired results' (Health 2001 p.286). Therefore, it is important to ensure your information is correct. I think it is important to not trust the first source of
information you find, always back up that information with another source that
is saying the same thing.
Wikipedia is a free encyclopaedia,
written collaboratively by the people who use it. On the Wikipedia website it says 'don't be afraid to
edit,' anyone can edit almost every page. To use Wikipedia as your only source
of information and have nothing to back it up is probably not the best idea.
Especially when anyone can edit the information (Wikipedia n.d.).
Public Relations practitioners
are experts in researching information and it is a skill that they would use on
a daily basis. They may use Google or Wikipedia
as a source, but I don’t think it would be the only source of information that
they would use. Especially when their
clients or the public are counting on them to provide clear, concise and
accurate information. The information that is collated for a campaign has to meet the objectives. There are many types of techniques and methods that can be used to research (Wilcox et al. 2013).
As a university student, I
do use google at times to source information. However, my main source for
information would be journal articles on the Library site or textbooks. I don’t
just look at one journal article, I find numerous articles that all relate to
the same topic and make sure the information is consistent.
References
Health, R. 2001, Handbook of Public Relations, Sage Publications, London
Wikipedia the free encyclopaedia n.d., Introduction, viewed 13 December 2014, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Introduction
Wilcox, D., Cameron, G., Reber, B & Shin, J. 2013, Think Public Relations, Pearson Education, New Jersey
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