Public Relations Practice: U.S. vs. Spain

So I'm a little excited about this post simply because it centers in on my major and once of the strongest tools we utilize as practitioners: Social Media. I was browsing through my Twitter timeline the other day when I stumbled upon an article tweeted by the EdelmanDigital account. It compared how social media is used by public relations firms in both countries to try and determine if there is a big difference or not:

From Madrid to Silicon Valley: Thoughts on the Role of Social Networks and the Changing Media Landscape

Now the most interesting aspect I found about the article is that there isn't a huge difference between how social media is used in either country which I think is amazing. Since my time here I've realized that social media isn't used as much as it is in America, especially since Spaniards normally utilize sites like Tuenti which don't exist in the states, but in the professional realm things work relatively the same. However what is strikingly relevant is that journalist and news sources haven't caught up to the social media movement in Spain. While Spanish journalists seem to be focusing on establishing their online presence, journalist in America openly use the internet as a source of news and are even open to receiving news pitches through social media. I remember discussing in our last class that Spanish businesses and journalist are still trying to learn how to adjust to the new use of the internet as a source of information, well they should look no further than their American counterparts! This however can't be done without one important aspect: Twitter.

If there is one thing I've noticed about Spain, it is that Twitter has still not become a mainstream site for everyday Spaniards like Facebook has. To begin with Facebook isn't as actively used (once again, because of Tuenti), but it is still a prominent website in the country. Twitter on the other hand is something that Spanish businesses know about, but not the everyday consumer. What use is there for a company to have a Twitter account if the consumers they are trying to appeal to don't have accounts to interact with them. I've mentioned the website to a couple of Spaniards I have met and most of the time I'm met with a blank stare or I'm told they've heard about it but don't feel like getting one because they don't know enough. I definitely think if businesses want to make a big move, they need to start finding a way to put their twitter accounts out there and make it appealing. Host a contest of some sort so people could be drawn to the website. Afterwards they might get the hang of twitter and even start the one-on-one communication that makes Twitter such a valuable tool.