UNIVERSITY OF LUSAKA
School: Education
Degree Programme: Public Administration
Course name and Code: public relations 360
ASSIGNMENT
Student’s Surname: Mukulumoya
Student’s First name: Emmanuel
Student number: BPA192 186 07
Mode of Study: FULLTIME
E-mail Address: mukulumoyae@gmail.com
Phone Number: 0978632879
Lecturer’s name:
Due Date:
8th September 2022
Contents
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 3
1.0 Public relations, Bloggers and the Public and Private sector ............................................................ 3
1.1 Public sector .................................................................................................................................. 3
1.2 Private sector................................................................................................................................. 4
1.3 Public relations.............................................................................................................................. 4
1.4 Weblogging ................................................................................................................................... 5
2.0 Private sector and Blogging (case of Zambia) .................................................................................. 6
2.1 Blogging are here to stay .............................................................................................................. 7
2.2 Ownership of own media channel ................................................................................................. 7
2.3 Online reputation and presence ..................................................................................................... 7
2.4 Efficiency ...................................................................................................................................... 8
2.5 Behaviour influence ...................................................................................................................... 8
2.6 Consumers trust bloggers .............................................................................................................. 9
2.6 consumer company communication.............................................................................................. 9
2.7 Citizen Journalism ........................................................................................................................ 9
3.0 Blogging in Zambia’s public sector .................................................................................................. 9
3.1 The Government’s public relations department. ......................................................................... 10
3.2 Lack of competition .................................................................................................................... 10
3.3 Online reputation and presence ................................................................................................... 10
3.4 Ownership of own media channel ............................................................................................... 10
3.5 Efficiency .................................................................................................................................... 11
3.6 A blog is cost in the public sector ............................................................................................... 11
3.7 Crisis management ...................................................................................................................... 11
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................ 12
References ............................................................................................................................................ 13
Introduction
In the year 1994 Justin Hall a student at was responsible for creating the first blog, links.net.
by then blogs were known by various different names one of the first being “personal home
page” from there it changed to “open diaries”, it wasn’t until December 1997 when the official
term “Weblog” came into existence the full word for blog which is now used today. From then
blogs have been used by numerous individuals to share various types of information for various
purposes one of them being the revolutionization of public relations. Therefore, this paper will
focus on how bloggers have revolutionized public relations practice in Zambia’s private sector
and including a comparative analysis of whether the same approach can be applied to the public
sector.
1.0 Public relations, Bloggers and the Public and Private sector
Before we can examine how bloggers have revolutionized the practice of public relation in the
private sector and weather the same approach can apply to the public sector, it is imperative
first define and briefly explain what public relation is, who a blogger actually is as well as what
the public and private sector are.
1.1 Public sector
The public sector is a segment of the economy that is purely public, according to
(PrivacySense.net, 2016)The public sector is a part of the economy that comprises all
organizations that are owned and operated by the government. This includes everything from
schools and hospitals to roads and bridges. The public sector is comprised of the country’s
governments and all agencies that or funded by the public this includes other enterprises and
entities that responsible for the delivery of public goods and services and programs. The public
sector is broader than just the government sometimes it overlaps with the non-profit sector or
with the private sector.
Simply put the public sector is more like a large continuously growing ring of numerous
organizations with the government at the centre of it all, the in it is then followed public
organizations and enterprises around them is a grey area consisting of contractors that are
funded by the public and publicly owned businesses which may be but for the most part are not
part of the public sector.
1.1.1 Levels of Public sector
 Public sector organizations may exist at any of four levels:
 International (multistate entities or partnerships).
 National (an independent state).
 Regional (a province/state within a national state).
 Local (a municipal-level body such as a city or county).
The main purpose of the public sector is to ensure the welfare of the public through the
provision basic goods and services. The public sector is to also protect and promote interest of
weaker publics within a society and to promote development of the economy and infrastructure.
1.2 Private sector
The part of national economy made up of private enterprises, it includes the personal sector
(households) and corporate sector (Companies), and is responsible for allocating most of the
resources within an economy;
The segment of a country’s economy that is not controlled by the state government but is run
by individual companies and individuals whose main purpose is to make profits. This sector is
made up of all businesses that are independent and not in any way operated by the government
their only allegiance is to their shareholders and their ultimate goal is profit maximization and
being number one in their industry.
1.3 Public relations
“The PR world of the 21st century has shaped and changed our understanding and usage of
media and communication, and now extends itself to every continent and almost every country”
(Siddiqui, 2014). Public relations are the practice concerned with the management of
information and its circulation by an organization to the public for the purpose of affecting
their perception, it also concerned with the maintenance favourable public image According to
(Hayes, 2022) “Public relations (PR) is the set of techniques and strategies related to managing
how information about an individual or company is disseminated to the public, and especially
the media. Its primary goals are to disseminate important company news or events, maintain a
brand image, and put a positive spin on negative events to minimize their fallout.” Public
relations are the practice concerned with the management of information and its circulation by
an organization to the public for the purpose of affecting their perception, it also concerned
with the maintenance favourable public image. To many organizations it is seen as an of an
organizations vital components weather that organization is in the public sector or the private
sector, it plays the important role of communicating their messages to their investors, customers
and the public as well as maintaining a good image. According to (satyendra, 2022) “public
relations is responsible for the shaping and maintaining the image and reputation of the firm in
the eyes of its various publics. It is the deliberate, planned and sustained effort to institute and
maintain mutual understanding between the organization and its publics. It uses information to
influence opinion for creating and maintaining goodwill.”
Public relations in some way differs from ordinary advertising. Public relations practitioners
do not purchase ads, write their stories for reporters, or focus their energies on attractive paid
promotions. (Pahwa, 2022) Stated that “The main role of public relations is to promote the
brand by using editorial content appearing in magazines, newspapers, news channels, websites,
blogs, and TV programs. The main role of public relations is to promote the brand by using
editorial content appearing in magazines, newspapers, news channels, websites, blogs, and TV
programs. Using earned or free media for promotion has its own benefits as information on
these mediums aren’t bought. It has a third-party validation and hence isn’t viewed with
scepticism by the public.” The following are some of public relations important specific
functions:
 The analysis, interpretation and prediction of the prediction of the publics opinions as
well as attitudes towards the organizations brand and functions
 Handling the organization’s online presence on social media platforms and
organization’s websites by responding to public reviews.
 Writing speeches and distribution of press releases.
 Formulation of crisis management strategies and implementation of strategies when a
crisis arises.
 To handle all government and legislative agencies that may affect the organization in
one way or another
 Dealing with investor relations
 Writing up content to be distributed on the internet (internal or external websites)
1.4 Weblogging
1.4.1 Blogger
A blogger is an individual who ones and manages a blog, any person associated or works on a
blog. A blogger writes regularly for an online website or journal providing information about
a topic of interest, bloggers use these online journals to share own experiences, observation
and opinions about a particular topic or product. A blogger is basically someone with his or her
own platform, with which he or she has full control of it and no outside party has the ability to
censor what is posted or what subject the blogger decides to cover.
1.4.2 Blog
According to (Minaev, 2022) “In 1994, when blogs began, a blog was more of a personal diary
that people shared online. In this online journal, you could talk about your daily life or share
about things that you were doing. Then, people saw an opportunity to communicate information
in a new way online. Thus began the beautiful world of blogging.” (gunn, 2021)“Most experts
agree on the fact the first blog was Links.net, created in 1994 by then-student Justin Hall as a
place to publish his writing. The site consisted entirely of brief posts, each one sharing a link
and some of his thoughts on the content within. This collection of links included links to
websites he liked, as well as his own work. The term blog is the short version of the word
‘weblog’, blog is the term used to describe an online journal or online diary or simply out
information websites that displays the information that is posted by a blogger in a reverse
chronological manner where the recently posted information appear at the top of the page and
are the first to be seen by any reader who visits the page. There exist different types of blogs
due to the content each blogger decides to post, such as food blogs for example will only
concern food related topics reviewing quality of food being sold at a particular restaurant and
many other such as business blogs, music health, travel etc
2.0 Private sector and Blogging (case of Zambia)
Most organizations within the private sector have used blogs as one of their tools to enhance
their public relations activities, public relations functions and the functions of a blog a
similarity as they all share the same ultimate function which is the disseminations of
information. A business type of blog is the type of blog mostly utilized by organizations to aid
it in its public relations functions.
“Blogging is a new form of online communication that is being used by companies as a PR
tool. Today customers are moving away from the traditional media and so the need to be visible
in the consumer’s eye, new media is essential.” (Pratap, 2017)
Nowadays public relations have become more than just media relations, press release or even
the launch of an organization or product related event, public relations strategies have been
forced to evolve in order to cope with technological advances and the new type of customer
who is much more aware of products with a more sophisticated taste, public relations now
combine its traditional communication trends with a new 360˚ public relations strategies which
of course include blogging. According to (Vžesniauskaitė, 2019) Blogs are able to reach those
individuals with a taste for interesting pieces of news, non-traditional recommendations or
educational material.
2.1 Blogging are here to stay
In most countries blogging has become a part of an individual’s everyday life, with millions of
blogs about any subject matter one could think of and bloggers with large number of following
with the ability to shift public opinions, perception and ideas. According to (Fursdon, 2017)
“Blogging a form of social media and is one of the fastest growing areas of communication in
public relations practice? It has been argued that blogging is breaking down the barriers to
communication, enabling more equal and democratic dialogue between individuals, groups and
organisations”. It is this function that public relation was known for before the appearance of
blogs in order to access such an ability Zambia’s private sector organizations and their public
relation function have been forced to shift online and to use blogs in order to stay relevant or
risk being left behind as humanity seem to have chosen blogs as major source of reliable
information.
2.2 Ownership of own media channel
Weblogs have now enabled firms to have their own media platform which has given firms the
ability to become their own digital publisher in a very cost effective way of providing a modern
digital public relations to its audience and information disseminated through blogs to their
target audience in an easily accessible way which has helped firms gain loyalty from their
audience who are its customers or potential customers, blogs have enabled firms to increase
their loyal customers base and an increase in customers and customer loyalty results in an
increase in private sector firm’s profitability
2.3 Online reputation and presence
The Public relation process has the ultimate goal of enhancing an organizations image and
reputations and through the use of blogs firms are now able to create a goon online reputation
as well. An organizations online presence and reputation has a great impact on an
organization’s brand or product as it will determine how the target audience will treat the brand
or product (Goldsberry, 2016)“Guiding the conversation and demonstrating expertise about
your product and industry will make you a trusted, go-to source, and customers need to trust
the companies they do business with.” You can use blog posts to answer customers’ questions,
solve problems and distinguish your company from the competition. with the internet of
information individuals will not trust a brand or product if it has negative information
surrounding it or no information about it at all, therefore having a blog as part of a firm’s public
relations strategy enables an organizations to spread good news about their brand, product or
image as well help counter act negative information, according to (Gleeson, 2015) when a
consumer types your brand into search engine they receive negative results concerning your
brand such as bad reviews and negative articles , you will need to combat the negative with
other positive content or at least neutral and informative content. Therefore, building good
relationships with bloggers in order for them to write about your company and its products has
helped firms push down the negative search results. (Goldsberry, 2016) “Having a blog gives
you the opportunity to deliver valuable content that others can share and repost on social media.
It’s possible to use one blog post for numerous social media messages. When prospects see that
you have useful information to share on social media, they will want to learn more by visiting
your website, increasing your chances for conversion.” Public relation departments of a Firms
nowadays don’t only seek a means to advertise their firms online but to do so while gaining a
good online reputations and blogs are the most efficient way to achieve such a goal.
2.4 Efficiency
Directly owning a blog or collaboration with a blog has helped firms in the profit-making sector
get the most out of their public relations function cutting cost on advertising and news
dissemination saving firms recourses and time. Due to the fact once information is posted on a
blog page it's stays there forever until it is deleted, it stays there continuous driving traffic and
it's able to be seen by any person who visits the blog without the need of an organization to
keep pumping resources for the purpose of its circulation as it is easily accessible on the internet
2.5 Behaviour influence
One of Public relations most important feature is its ability to affect public perception and
opinion about a particular good, service, brand or topic. Firms use blogs to enhance this ability
to increase their profitability. According to in today’s word blogs have become the new version
of the word-of-mouth studies have shown that 84% of consumers are more likely to purchase
a product or service after reading about it on a blog in addition to this statistic people that are
between the ages of 15 and 54 have ranked blogs to be one of their most important sources of
information before making a purchase of any good or service. Therefore, blogs have changed
the way in which organization’s public relations influence the consumer through the use of
blogs.
2.6 Consumers trust bloggers
Private sector organizations have become aware that their consumers have gone through a sort
of awakening and don’t just accept any product or service from just any firm, as a result public
relation utilizes the bloggers as they themselves are also considered as consumers are no part
of the organization in most cases. Consumers are more likely to trust blogger as they are not a
company’s mouth piece hence their opinions and experiences are not bias and are truthful as
compared to the information and/or advertisements that come directly from the company itself.
The public relations function of an organization has changed in the way it gains consumer trust
because of blogs.
2.6 consumer company communication
Blogs have given firms the opportunity to communicate with their consumers but this
opportunity brings about responsibility. As these platforms have come to raise customer service
expectations. Only in a past where a consumer could interact with a firm during business hours,
from Monday to Friday. Consumers can now interact 24 hours of the day and 7 days of the
week with the firm and the firm is expected to respond. “In order to accommodate these
customer demands, many brands have extended their social monitoring hours to nights and
weekends. Since news and hot issues often break on social media, brands that monitor their
social channels closely and address these issues swiftly and tactfully can control the
conversations, rather than reacting to them.” (Matter comunications inc, 2022)
2.7 Citizen Journalism
Blogs have given ordinary citizens the platform to share and voice their opinions making
them powerful influencers of organization brands and image bloggers are sought out public
relations professionals from organizations who do not have blog of their own for the purpose
of collaboration due to the effectiveness of blogs in reaching a target audience the have
become a necessity to the public relations function with in an organization as bloggers can
create a meaningful relationship between consumers and firms.
3.0 Blogging in Zambia’s public sector
Bloggers have been a key factor in the evolution of public relations as they have revolutionized
and changed the way public relations functions are carried out, however this change is only
happening in organization the private sector and not as much in the public sector. Because the
function of public relations remains the same in any sector which is to affect the opinions of
the publics and create good relationship between them and the publics, bloggers cannot
enhance the way public relations is carried out within the public sector due to the following
issues.
3.1 The Government’s public relations department.
Zambia’s main government has its own public relations department in which it uses to
disseminate information about its workings to the nation’s citizens, according to (National
assembly of Zambia, 1924) “The core function of the Public Relations Department is to provide
citizens with information about the activities of the parliaments mainly through the press, mass
media and visits to Parliaments by the public.” Zambia’s public relations department has not
gone through any kind of revolution due to bloggers as it has been stated the parliament only
uses press media and visits to parliament and no such mention of the internet or blogs.
3.2 Lack of competition
The private sector of the economy consists of a large number of firms each different industry
all competing for a greater market share and to maximize their profitability hence they have to
stay relevant and use every efficient tool in their disposal such as the biggest one of them all
the internet where blogs are becoming an effective way of reaching and influencing consumers.
However, this different in the public sector as most public sector organizations in Zambia have
no competition the services which are provided by the are financed through tax there is no need
to go out of their way to advertise through blogs online because it would not make much of a
difference to them. It is due to these reasons public sector public relations only focuses on
ordinary media dissemination methods.
3.3 Online reputation and presence
The existence of monopolies in certain industries in Zambia for example ZESCO ltd, is one of
the organizations public relations department do not have the drive to create a good personal
and online reputation or maintain an online presence
not having to worry whether its
competitors are reaching a greater audience online through blogs, especially if what is being
provided by that organization is an essential service, it does not mater to the consumers whether
they use a blog or not they will still need the organizations product and cannot boycott it, public
relations using blogs will only be seen as an extra cost the organization the departments main
function will be to manage crisis when it arises and to provide press releases
3.4 Ownership of own media channel
Having a platform in which an organization can publish content about itself is or collaborating
with a writer that has his or her own platform being a blog page is very useful to an
organization. But not so much if that organization is the government because most of the
content in newspapers, radios and news stations on televisions such as ZNBC is about the
government and organizations its connected to within the public sector. Content about
government activities programs products and services is not hard to find there is little or no
need to create a blog to help public relations, Blogs can provide an organization with its own
digital space for its content but in Zambia’s public sector such an effort would.
3.5 Efficiency
Bloggers have revolutionized the way organization’s public relation strategies are carried out
as they are an effective and efficient way to disseminate information about anything saving
time and resources and it is this cost effective feature that has made blogs popular in the private
sector however in the public sector a distribution network for information and content about
public sector firms the government has already been established the government owns it own
television station radio stations and does not have to pay for its content to be broadcasted.
Public sector organizations benefit from such arrangements therefore eliminating the need for
the blog approach in their public relation strategy.
3.6 A blog is cost in the public sector
A blog is only as effective as the person managing it only as effective as the person managing
it, because of the fact that government and most public institutions have very little interest in
content posting on the internet for them to introduce blogging to their public relations
strategy this would require them to seek out such specialist when it comes to blogging. “A
blog will only be useful to an organization if It has someone to maintain it, someone trained
in effective dialogic communication, and someone who has the trust of individuals and
publics. Posting anonymously to blogs is not a viable option for any organization nor are
attempts to manipulate blog audience members with self-serving propaganda or thinly
disguised news releases” (Fursdon, 2017). Doing all that will cost the firm money and time
and would seem to be unnecessary because they can just use the traditional media platforms
that are already available to them.
3.7 Crisis management
The public relations function can utilize a blog whether it is in the public or private sector a
public sector organization can use a blog as one time solution to manage a crisis as blogs are
very effective as a blog is faster and can be temporary or permanent allowing the company to
quickly face the issue and once it passes the post can be deleted
Conclusion
Due to the large number of technological advancement individuals are now able to share their
own opinions about anything from products to services through affecting the way
organizations perform because of this firms in the private sector have been forced to seek out
these individuals with blogs or to create on of their own this has become part of an
organization’s public relations strategy forever changing how the public relations department
in the private sector affects the public opinion and perception however this phenomena has
not yet fully affected organizations in Zambia’s the public sector even though it would
revolutionize the relationship between the consumers and the firms the public sector is still
lacking in technological integration.
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