MEDIA RELEASE PR37127
Survey: Two-Thirds of Public Affairs Professionals Believe Social Media is Dominant Communications
Channel in Shaping Public Policy in China
BEIJING, Nov. 17 /Media OutReach-AsiaNet/ --
More than two-thirds of 132 public affairs professionals with responsibility for China believe that opinions
expressed in the social media have more influence over contemporary public policy than other media. The
Edelman/PublicAffairsAsia survey findings will be presented in full this afternoon during a closed-door
roundtable featuring senior government officials, foreign multi-nationals (MNCs) and state owned enterprises
(SOEs).
Some 66 percent of survey respondents believe that social media is "the most influential communications
medium in modern China." In addition, respondents believe that the government is responsive to online
opinion: almost 60 percent disagree with the statement that the Chinese government will not respond to
suggestions and policy positions advanced through social media.
"It is no longer adequate simply to monitor the social media. It's clearly impacting the development and
implementation of public policy in China," said Alan VanderMolen, President of Edelman's Asia Pacific Region.
"Foreign MNCs, SOEs and other organizations must get engaged to foster meaningful dialogue and
relationships with stakeholders on an ongoing basis."
"The survey reveals the significance of social media in public policy in modern China. Yet just eight per cent
of respondents state that their public affairs department is responsible for social media strategy," said Craig
Hoy, Executive Director, PublicAffairsAsia. "To deliver meaningful outcomes, senior practitioners need to align
medium and message and start taking responsibility for social media."
Embracing But Not Yet Engaging
Responses to the survey suggest that public affairs executives use social media but have not begun to
approach it systematically. Forty-three percent of respondents have started to utilize social media platforms
as part of their public affairs strategy "but have not yet evaluated its impact". Only one in seven (17%) claim to
use it as a fully integrated and evaluated tool in their public affairs work.
When it comes to leveraging social media as a means to collect and disseminate information about their
business, 59 percent of respondents use it at least several times during the week as an input device for news
and information about their business.
However, 37 percent use social media for putting messages about their business into public view at least
several times a week. Nearly half (46%) use it less than once a week or not at all.
Samantha J. Silver
Edelman
+86 13439630027
SOURCE: PublicAffairsAsia
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