PRINZ head - more NZers still in tune with direct contact over social media

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dG403FaOFv4

Graeme Purches was only hours into his new role as head of the Public Relations Institute of New Zealand when I asked him about NZ companies' uptake of social media (having a company Facebook page for example). First, his views, he explains, are formed from working with largely rural sectors of NZ society which - he believes - still greatly prefer traditional methods of public relations and interfacing with companies, meaning  face-to-face or over the phone with a company rep. His feeling is that Kiwis overall don't prefer the social networking form over these forms of contact, and it's not a generational thing either, but part of a NZ pysche. That might pour cold water on some of the assumptions of social networking evangelists here. There's strong B2B and grassroots social networks in New Zealand, but I have to agree that large NZ companies struggle to see the point in developing a meaningful presence in consumer facing social media. He also believes participating in answering damaging electronic PR - bad blog comments or in Dominoes Pizza's case: youtube videos - can help prolong the issue. At the same conference, Catherine Arrow a PR consultant and a clear fan of social-media-for-reshaping-PR argues for a more optimistic view describing new media uptake by NZ companies as showing exponential growth since '05. These interviews side by side show the crossroads that many PR people are at when trying to guage and council their clients about social media pros and cons.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kQwcNOi2sE

Catherine Arrow at PRINZ 2009 conference