Public Relations Online

Rich in scholarly foundations combined with actual practice, Public Relations Online: Lasting Concepts for Changing Media connects the social and technological forces that are changing public relations. Using plain-talk discussion of theory and research, this book helps readers identify how lasting concepts for effective public relations can be applied in a changing media environment, and how a changing media environment affects the practice of effective public relations.

Key Features:

Provides “Hands-Online” activities: Internet resource exercises challenge readers to apply concepts to their world in “real-time” on the day that they read the chapter.
Offers “Questionable Claims” boxes: Discussions present alternative perspectives on sometimes-over-hyped claims and serve to help sharpen critical-thinking skills.
Discusses computer systems and networks: Server-side and peer-to-peer technologies are introduced as models for understanding online public relations.
Focuses on how real people are using online media to communicate: Online public relations is more a matter of what people are doing with online media technologies than what these technologies are doing to people.

Intended Audience:

This text is designed for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in Public Relations strategies and practices such as Public Relations Cases, Public Relations Management, Public Relations Strategy, and Public Relations Campaigns.

Author Biography

Tom Kelleher rejoined the School of Communications at the University of Hawai′i at Manoa in fall 2006 after two years on the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He started at Hawai′i in 1999 after earning his Ph.D. from the University of Florida. He has taught courses in introductory public relations, public relations writing, advanced public relations, online communication, communication campaigns, media effects, honors research, and communication theory.

Kelleher has published in Journal of Public Relations Research, Public Relations Review, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, Journal of Mass Media Ethics, Journal of Communication Management, and Teaching Public Relations. He has worked in university relations at the University of Florida; science communication at NASA in Huntsville, Alabama; and agency public relations at Ketchum in Atlanta. He also has consulted for various university-related organizations in Honolulu, Hawai′i. His research interests are online public relations, public relations theory, campaigns, ethics, and teaching and learning with online media.

He likes surfing in the ocean more than surfing online, but still manages to do some of both.