I'm going to do a little thread about data & communications, because I'm sat in a car waiting for my mum at an appointment so why not. People often think the biggest impact digital tech has had on PR is sending press releases & video to online sites instead of newspaper

As ever with PR, the media bit only tells part of the story. You're getting much more data now. PR is just one tool in the marketing & communications box. If you're wanting to talk to an audience, much of the data you're getting is helping you to understand that audience

I am going to add a brief note here to say that marketers should empower audiences and consumers about how they're using data. Scraping data, which I know some marketers do, is utter bollocks. Empower people to understand how data helps and improves their experience

That means one of the core things you have to do with data is help visualise it for an audience. Data isn't just for a board, for a funder, for a CEO or for an advertising strategy. It's for audiences and consumers as well. It helps for people to understand how they fit in

What time are people going to places? What's the most popular price point? When do people visit websites? What time are most popele online? What art form do people like best? People love this, because a) were endlessly nosy and b) endlessly curious

With communications, you can turn that data into graphs, messages, fancy info graphics, videos. It's such a powerful way to empower people and show how they are part of. A big community. It also humanise the data, because you're converting it into something people will get

Data is profoundly empowering and it has to be a core thing that we do in PR and communications to be continually showcasing what data we gather and how it shapes experiences. Especially if, in the future, we are asking people to consent to sharing more data

I have no way of finishing this thread other than saying I am 100% not surprised the private outsourcing companies and agencies the government has brought into replace a public health system aren't bang into empowering people with knowledge