Tech Corner Post: YouTube

Written by Lindsay Attaway

            YouTube can be used in many aspects of Public Relations. Any company can promote their product or products through YouTube. Our generation has become technologically advanced so I think it is important to use the resources you have to communicate with your customers and target audience. By doing so you can improve the reputation of any company.

            InvisibleChildren uses YouTube to make people across the country aware of the longest war in Central Africa. The Lord’s Resistence Army is their name and their main goal is to capture children and force them to kill. They have murdered and raped thousands of people. Invisible Children uses YouTube to make people aware of the horrendous things that are being done in another country. Sometimes we become comfortable in our current situations but by Invisible Children using YouTube they show another side of the world some of us have never seen.

            BP has many educational videos about their oil and where the drill in the world. On April 20, 2010 there was an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Each day there was 1,000 barrels of crude oil being leaked. Obviously, BP was getting a lot of mad press and publicity. Their use of YouTube was to make public apologies and make known their efforts to making it right again. Many commercials were aired as part of their crisis management. Their public relations team had to do their best to turn around the opinion people had about their company.

            JustinBieber posted his first video in February 2008 on YouTube. He said, “This was my first video to ever reach one million views.” Since he posted his first video on YouTube he has become one of the most talented singers, being named Artist of the Year in 2010. If it wasn’t for YouTube he may have never been found. He promoted himself on YouTube and made himself known to people who saw something special in him.           

            As you have seen through these examples, YouTube can be used for crisis management, publicity for a person and community relations. This technology outlet can be used for a lot of good in public relations. In my opinion, it should be used to promote products and most importantly make people aware of things they weren’t before. YouTube can be used for any organization or company to give the community a positive perspective about them .