“Faz o que te digo, mas não olhes para o que eu faço”: as Consultoras de Relações Públicas e a Comunicação Digital, em Portugal

Abstract

As a strategic communication activity in organizations, public relations have been developing and adapting to the evolution of the digital economy, knowledge society and defragmentation of the audience. One of the main changings is related with the use of web 2.0 tools that change the space-time dimension of communication. Together with the changes with the se of media and with the space where communication takes place, we can identify a growing specialization in organizational communication, increasingly professional, targeted and complex. Therefore, companies and organizations use external services to support or replace the work of communication, carried out internally before or even absent. In turn, these services are offered by companies with different names, such as: Press Office, the Office of Communication, Bureau of Communication and Public Relations Agency, Adviser for Communication and Public Relations, among others. In order to outline the main characteristics for the services provided, we developed an analysis of web pages of the Communication Agencies associated to APECOM (2010). The results obtained show that agencies offer a range of communications services that falls into the area of Public Relations, however, there is an imprecise terminology. It is worth noting the lack of criteria for designating areas of work or services, which may be an indicator of disorganization of the sector. Finally, we conclude that the media companies and public relations are not ready for digital media, whether by poor service provision in this area and the evaluation of their online presence.