Sosial Media Sebagai Media Baru dalam Perspektif Praktisi Public Relations Pada Era Generasi Milenial

Abstract

Internet technology gave birth to the term social media as well as becoming a "new media" which is now an absolute and mandatory tool for public relations practitioners. This phenomenon continues to this day and of course has the impact of major and fundamental changes, especially how changes in the characteristics and flow of information dissemination occur at the junction of the Millennial and Generation Z eras. The use of social media is still dominated by direct online sales transactions, while the role and function of PR has not colored the realm of social media much. The purpose of this study is to describe the role and function of Public Relations in the use of social media as part of the growth of "new media." This research uses the literature review method with a qualitative descriptive approach to interpret a reality and tries to formulate concepts and theories based on the reality experienced. The results of the study show that the distribution of information through the mass media, which was initially one-way, was broken by the presence of social media. Assessment of a phenomenon now belongs to a heterogeneous, anonymous and scattered public because the dissemination of information is faster, more efficient and easily accessible to all levels of society. Therefore, Public Relations practitioners whose function is to create a good impression on an organization, should have the ability to analyze and process information spread on social media to then be used in building the image of an organization.