Reality bytes! The technological realities of public relations practitioners in Ghana

In developed countries, the rate of technological development and dissemination over the past two decades has been breathtaking, to say the least. These developments have affected all facets of life and work. As a result, it is a generally accepted notion that new communication technologies have had, and will continue to have a significant impact on how organisations communicate, including the way public relations is practised. A growing body of literature on new technologies and public relations practice supports this widely held notion. However, despite this emergent body of literature, there is hardly any knowledge about what the situation is in developing countries in terms of the rate of technological adoption by public relations practitioners and the impact of these technologies on their work. This paper is an initial attempt to deal with some of what is missing from the literature in this burgeoning area---a developing world perspective. The paper is based on research carried out in Ghana during January and February 2004. The findings indicate that while Ghanaian public relations practitioners are optimistic about the impact new technologies will have on their practice, the reality of their technological situation shows that there is a wide gap between the experience of practitioners in Ghana and those in the developed world.