A Bad Site: Martha Stewart Gets "Vasperized"

Even public relations web sites must be user-centered in design and content. Narcissistic, arrogant PR sites are counter-productive in the digital age of transparency, fault-admission, and altruism via shared information. Find out why Martha Talks is a web site failure from a usability and ethics point of view.

Streight, Steven. Blogger.com (2004). Articles>Web Design>Public Relations>Marketing

The Corporate Web Site as an Image Restoration Tool: The Case of Coca-Cola  

In this study, the communication tactics Coca-Cola uses on its Web site to mediate the negative publicity generated by the 1999 Ingram, et al. vs. The Coca-Cola Company lawsuit are examined. Drawing upon Benoit’s theory of image restoration and the metanarration construct of Venette, Sellnow, and Lang (2003), this study analyzes how Coca-Cola uses its Web site to create a secondary narrative that revises the derogatory primary narrative created by the independent media during the lawsuit. The case of Coca-Cola indicates that corporate Web sites can be an especially effective communication tool in the image-restoration phase of a crisis communication campaign.

Waller, Randall L. and Nicola Graves. Association for Business Communication (2004). Articles>Web Design>Public Relations

For Conference Support, Consider a Wiki

For the last couple of months, I’ve been developing an online list of major trends that are transforming public relations, with links to sites, articles and quotes that in one way or another prove the point and that I know I’ll someday want to get back to. It’s something like my own personal tagging system, maintained in a wiki.

Forbush, Dan. Communication World Bulletin (2005). Articles>Web Design>Public Relations>Wikis