The Role of Culture in Public Relations
Public relation is the process of making a good relationship among people in a particular place or across the country (Piotr, 2014). This process is not free in the sense that it entails time and effort in making new connections. Public relation strengthens community interactions. On the other hand, Social media is the internet and mobile based tools where people share ideas and information. It has created an easy way of communication among people. One of the greatest role social media play in today’s society is that it keeps people connected (Kent, 2013). One of the concepts of social media is that it has given people the ability to reach a global audience and also enhanced strong relationship across the country. Social media has also impacted on how people relate. One of the relationships between Social media and public relation is that both creates a two way of communication between an organization and its audience or a person and the people they are targeting (Liz & Sue, 2014). Some of the Social media platforms commonly used are Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Social media has enhanced people’s interactions across the country. The case study will explain how culture has affected how Japanese relate to each other. It would also show the impact of social media on both cultural and public relation management. It would also explain how social media has enhanced the growth of a country hence making it a democratic society.
In Japan, public relation practitioners acknowledge culture as an important variable that affects how people react across various regions (Piotr, 2014). According to the Hofstedes model of national culture, the society’s culture has effects on the values of its members, and how these values relate to behavior, using a structure derived from factor analysis. This means that the manner in which in various regions behave is influenced by the culture which define the society (Lee & Caroline, n.d). Culture can be defined as the characteristics and knowledge of a particular group of people including religion, social habits, food and what they consider right or wrong. In Japan, culture has greatly affected how people communicate and relate to one another. This is because there are various regions across Japan which have differences in the way they view things. According to Marina, (2017), Japanese culture has enhanced good relation among people not even across the regions but also the entire country. This is because people treat others across the country according to their culture hence enhancing good relation (Lee & Caroline, n.d). For example, if one intends to start a hotel in a different region, he or she is supposed to offer products which are in line with the culture of that region. This makes people feel appreciated because offering different products from what they are used to would mean one is undermining their culture. In trying to learn the culture of different regions, people’s interactions across Japan have been easy and this has created love and unity amongst themselves (Zhou, 2014).
The Influence of Social Media on Public Relations
From the six dimensions of culture which Hofstede suggests: individualistic/collectivistic, masculine/feminine, uncertainty/avoidance, power distance, time perspective, and indulgence/ restraint, the Japanese can be associated with some like for instance, the aspect of men and women as defined by masculine and feminine exist in this society. For example, men are seen more powerful than women, although this perception has been changing over the years (Bridgen, 2013). The aspect of uncertainty avoidance is also evident in this country as people feel that the future is associated with uncertainties and therefore strive to ensure they attain what can make them overcome uncertainties which are likely to occur.
Due to cultural diversity across the country, people of Japan have great understandings among themselves and this has enabled them to treat people fairly according to their culture (Gillian, 2013). This has created a conducive way of interaction. Understanding people’s culture not only enhances public relation but also promotes networking. According to Emily (2010), Japanese culture has enhanced the behavior of most people. This is because people are regulated by their cultural norms and prevents them from behaving in certain ways. This has reduced the rate of immorality across the country hence creating peace. According to Liz & Sue (2014), leadership culture can also affect how people think and relate with others. This is because people learn new ideas and behaviors from these leaders (Linke & Zerfass, 2013). For example in Japan, even though they have had a series of leaders over the years, they were able to portray a good picture to its people. They did not act selfish and this made people to also treat others good.
From the case study conducted in Japan on the impact of social media on public relation, it revealed that more than 80% of the people have adapted media as the form of interaction. These media platforms include Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. In Japan, Facebook is the most commonly used form of media with more than 50% of people actively using it (Robert & Naoya, 2012). Social media has been termed as the most effective way of sharing information and ideas. Like in Japan, it has changed how people communicate, when, where and who they deliver their message to. The growth and popularity of social media platforms have changed many things in public relations. One of these changes is that it has encouraged customer focus (Tufekci, 2016). Social media has compelled many industries in Japan to focus on their customers hence building a positive relationship with their customers (Loan, 2012). This is because many customers use this platforms to complain about their bad experiences. This forces managers to solve the issues immediately in order to avoid public relation crisis. They also get to know from these platforms if they are meeting their customers’ expectations. Many industries in Japan use these social media interactions to advertise their business (Rifat, 2014).
Positive and Negative Impacts of Social Media on Public Relations
According to Zhou (2014), social media has created a 24/7 news cycle in Japan. This is where people are sending information across the country and get responses there and then. Moreover, many people across the country also use this media platforms to solve their crisis. This is because one may fear to face the person he or she has wronged thinking that they can do harm to them. Through the kind of response, one gets, they are able to tell whether the crises are settled or not. On the other hand, use social media have been seen the cause of troubles among many people in this country (Loan, 2012). This is because some people tend to use it to spread bad news about others. This has caused public relation crisis because once information shared it’s hard to clean it up from the minds of people.
Since media involves various elements, this has made many industries in Japan have integrated their services in order to widen the scope of their organization (Georgeta, 2015). This involves bringing in advertising people, marketing and data analysts to provide efficient work for their customers. Unlike in the past where one could manage a business alone, social media requires a team of people (Waddington, 2013). This has created interactions of people across various regions of Japan. Integration of these services by use of social has also created a positive relationship between company owners and their customers. This is because bringing people together with different knowledge about something leads to effective work hence meeting the needs of the customers (Robert & Naoya, 2012).
Social media has made Japan a democratic country whereby have created a site to ensure greater engagement with its people in making decisions that affect them (Robert & Naoya, 2012). Through this site, the government has engaged citizens in coming up with opinions on how they think things should be operated to ensure a positive relationship between them.
Though social media has brought many positive impacts in this country, it also has a bad influence of the same. Some of the people use this platform to talk hell about others and this has led to increased public relation crisis. This has led to a negative relation between many people. According to Robert & Naoya (2012), most people in Japan use these media interactions to copy some behaviors which are not in line with their culture. Abuse of culture creates relation crisis between the one abusing and other people. Some of these behaviors have negative effects in their lives. For example, one may adapt drug abuse behaviors which may bring bad effects not only to the user but also entire society. Social media interactions have created envy among most people in Japan in a way. This is where a particular person does not feel good about another due to his or her social life hence creating enmity.
In addition, many people in Japan a person use these media interactions to give misleading information about a particular company (Marina, 2017). It is mostly done by people who are operating a similar business in a particular region. This leads to a relationship crisis between the two competitors. For example, there was a certain person who gave misleading information about the capsule hotel claiming that they sell poisoned foods. This led to the closure of the hotel because most customers took the information as true. It also affected the good name of the company and completely lost its market share. People should not rely on the information given through social media but engage themselves in further investigations to know the correct information. This is because can bring about crisis which does not deserve to be there.
It is therefore advisable for the people of Japan to make good use of social media interactions. Instead of using it in attacking others which can create public relation crisis, they should use it in more important ways like promoting their businesses and many more (Fuchs, 2014). Since many youths are the most users of the social media, parents should restrict their children who are under the age of 18 oh having accounts on these platforms. This is because it is through social media interactions where they adopt bad behaviors like a change of dress code and also other sexual habits. This affects not only young people but also adults. Bad behaviors can bring about a relationship crisis (Robert & Naoya, (2012). It is therefore good for one before copying a certain behavior from social media to do thorough investigations on the possible outcomes and if it can affect his or her relationship with other people. For the companies using social media interaction to advertise they should include security measures to prevent any intruder from interfering with their information. This would prevent their customers from receiving misleading information and also enhance good relation.
In conclusion, social media interactions have impacted the relationships among people in Japan. Unlike in the past where people used informal means of delivering information, people now use social media platforms which seems to be easier and convenient. This has led to networking across the country because one is able to meet more people at once. It has also provided an easier way of communication across the country. If one has a message he or she wants to deliver to a particular group of people they don’t waste their time and money traveling to their places but can use their media platforms to deliver the message. Through social media interactions, people are now able to know what is happening across the country. It has also made Japan a democratic country because its citizens can participate in decision making and share what they feel is important for them. Social media has also created all-time channel of communication where people can send messages whenever they want and receive back responses. Many also use these platforms to solve their crisis.
Social media interaction has also enhanced the relationship between many industries in Japan and their customers. This is because customers use these social media platforms to share their experiences, which in turn assists managers to know what to fix. Social media interactions have also enhanced good relations across the country because thorough internet people are able to learn the culture of other people and avoid acting in ways which could attack them. These platforms have enhanced connections of many people across various regions in Japan. Good use of social media is important when it comes to public relations because it helps in reducing public relation crisis.
On the other hand, social media has also brought about negative impacts in Japan. It has changed the way people behave nowadays. This is because of the behaviors people adopt from these media platforms. Social media interactions can make one forget religion and fashion of their community and follow what is not recommended in their society. This may cause relation crisis. One of these behaviors one can adopt is the way of dressing and other behaviors like drug abuse. Social media interaction has also increased immoral behaviors, especially among youths. This is because many youths don’t understand how these social media interactions can be of help hence end up sharing information which does not enhance public relation. Though social media has got these negative impacts on public relation, people can still avoid them.
References
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