Carpenters Establish Electronic Media Presence

If anything was made clear with the recent release of the Pew Research Center's biennial News Consumption survey it was that print as a news source is waning, television news is even vulnerable, but news gathered and shared via online platforms is booming. While traditional news platforms have lost audience, #onlinenews has taken shape and grown. Among #smartphone owners, for example, 31 percent say that they got news yesterday on a mobile device. Even more significant is the growth of #socialmedia and #socialnetworks.

The Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters has increasingly encouraged members and the

general public alike to go online and access its website (www.CarpentersUnion.org) to obtain

information about the Carpenters union, read about news that potentially affects us and the construction industry, and register for industry events. Today's website is a valuable tool used to inform and promote, to market, and to educate. It is the electronic face of the organization, available to anyone in any place at any time. (The UBC recently launched a beneficial resource for smartphone users; see the instructions at the end of this article.)

As it becomes increasingly difficult to get traditional news sources to print information submitted to them via a press release, rather than pay to run an ad we can now consider the

option of distributing our own news release via our website, press release distribution services, and posting to social networking services such as Facebook with its many users.

The Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters currently has more than 400 followers on its #Facebook page. Using this social networking tool is an avenue to reach more of our members, industry partners, political officials, customers, and members of the general public. Leveraging the reach and popularity of Facebook means reaching more people quickly, with information potentially valuable to them. Our use of social networking as a news source is intended to enhance our #communication with our members and will not replace our traditional print publications.

These movements in the media and #informationlandscape create both opportunities and potential pitfalls. When anything is posted online in the public domain, it is important to consider how that information and subsequent material (i.e., reader comments)

will be processed and potentially perceived and spread. Online communication—individually

empowering as it is—has sadly lent itself to a style of commentary, discussion, and debate that oftentimes turns hostile with no sound advancement of topic or position. We encourage comments that are mindful, educational, and beneficial to the populaces who will be reading them and contributions that honorably represent our profession.

Economic conditions stemming from the 2007 Great Recession have contributed to deep

frustrations, angst, and even times of hostility particularly when shrouded in the anonymity of an online screen name. Always stand principled and communicate to advance the cause, but remember to do so with sensibility, tact, and passion. We are all in this together, more powerful and potent when acting as one.

In closing I would like to wish everyone happy holidays and a healthy and prosperous new year!

You can conveniently connect to the Council website using your smartphone QR (Quick Response) code reader. Once you have downloaded your QR code reader from your phone's app store, simply use the reader to scan the barcode below.

(Written by Don Scott while employed as Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters' Communications Director)