Online Communities as a Public Relations Tool

Customer involvement and participation are the principles of the Web 2.0 movement and must not be ignored by PR practitioners. One tool to encourage and allow open discussion channels on the internet are online communities. They serve as an ideal platform to allow and create a genuine two-way symmetrical conversation between an organisation and its audiences ¿ although they might have a threatening character for the traditional PR principle ¿control comes from the top¿. But if a company comes to terms with listening instead of talking and is willing to give away a certain amount of control, it can benefit immensely on the long-run. This work shows how online communities can contribute to a direct and unfiltered communication between an organisation and its audiences.