Communications Survey Finds Low Take-Up of Social Media

Source: EACD

The European Communication Monitor 2012 is the latest research about communications management and public relations worldwide.  Carried out by the European Public Relations Education and Research Association (EUPRERA), the European Association of Communication Directors (EACD) and Communication Director Magazine, the research aims to highlight the challenges and competences required in communications and PR.

The research presents some interesting results.  Gaining understanding from top management for communications is described as a huge challenge.  A large majority of respondents (84%) state that there is a lack of understanding of communications.  A further 75% of those surveyed also said it is difficult for the communications profession to prove the impact of communication activities on the organisation’s goals.  A lot of work has to be done thought to improve the recognition and the reputation of the field.

The ethical challenges faced by communicators were also considered in the research.  Six out of ten communications professionals in Europe report about ethical challenges in their daily work.  Professionals with more years of experience on the job are more likely to have used codes of ethics than their younger colleagues.  Although, 31.7% of communications professionals in Europe state that the typical codes of ethics provided by the PR profession are outdated today.  Nevertheless the majority (93.2%) of respondents believe that codes of ethics are vital in communications.

The increasing importance of social media is of course one of the top issues in the research.  Surprisingly, less than 56% of communications departments use online communities in their communications.  Although the survey shows that mobile applications are considered the most important opportunities in social media communications by the respondents, there is a big difference between importance (65%) and implementation (31%) of mobile applications.

Blog by Aris Koutentakis