Abstract
This chapter sets the scene for PR’s professional discourses in the digital age. PR’s professional boundaries have always been fluid, enabling the nature of PR work to change with the times. As everyday PR work becomes increasingly shaped by digital platforms, this is transforming how the PR profession talks about itself, its issues and concerns. While the impact of digital platforms and platformisation has been at the forefront of academic and industry debates, there has to date been little attempt to understand the implications of digital platformisation for PR’s professional project. The chapter establishes digital platformisation as the critical moment in professional discourses and draws on the sociology of professions to explain why discursive examination of PR’s jurisdictional struggles sheds greater light on the future of PR’s professional project.
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Notes
- 1.
The technology company, Facebook, rebranded as Meta in 2021. However, its platform retains the Facebook brand for the time being, reflected in the reference to ‘Facebook’ in all chapters of this book.
- 2.
2022 TBRC Business Research.
- 3.
The Baby boomers generation began approaching retirement in 2000.
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Bourne, C. (2022). Introduction: Public Relations in the Digital Age. In: Public Relations and the Digital. Communicating in Professions and Organizations. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13956-7_1
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