I never thought I would be getting a history lesson when reading
Chapter 23 of “Share This.” The chapter was about using communication in the
public sector and looked back to the past for examples from anti-smoking
campaigns and pro-voting campaigns.
Looking further into the past, the authors explain how
communications has not changed that much since the Romans’ Acta Diurna. “The Acta
Diurna were daily public notices, posted up in public locations around Rome”
(210). Scribes would be sent to make copies to bring back to their rulers.
This Roman communication was very important in that time. The
book states four lessons we can learn from the Acta Diurna:
1. Put your information where the audience is
2. Spice up information with interesting human color
3. Make it easy for people to share your information and it
will spread
4. If you want to influence what people thing about you, do
not leave it to others to do all the communication
The funny thing is, social media and public relations haven’t
changed that much since then. We still put information where the audience is:
mainly the Internet. The book says we spice up information with cat photos if
all else fails (which is true). Sharing information is very easy in 2014 with
share buttons, email and social media on almost every page we visit. It’s
comforting to know the basic principles of communications still remain the same,
even after all these years.
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