According to a recent study from Fellows of the Society for New Communications Research, "The 'new influencers' are beginning to tear at the fabric of corporate communications and marketing as they have existed for 100 years, giving rise to a new style characterized by conversation and community." The profound impact of new media on the PR landscape was analyzed and the findings were significant.

Based on these findings, the researchers arrived at the following top-line conclusions:

• Social media is rapidly becoming a core channel for disseminating information. Fifty-seven percent of this group of early social media adopters reported that social media tools are becoming more valuable to their activities, while 27% reported that social media is a core element of their communications strategy.

• Blogs, online video and social networks are currently the most popular social media tools, but PR and corporate communications professionals are using a wide variety of means to reach audiences, depending on their unique situations.

• Currently, the top criteria for determining the relevance and potential influence of a blogger or podcaster are: Quality of content, relevance of content to the company or brand and search engine rank; however, new metrics are emerging and these criteria could quickly change.

• The top criteria for evaluating a person's influence in online communities and social networks are participation level, frequency of activity and prominence in the market or community.

• About half of the communicators are formally measuring the effects of their social media initiatives. Their key goals are to enhance relationships with key audiences, improve the reputation of their businesses, drive customer awareness of their online activities and to solicit customer comments and feedback.

While more companies adopt social media, they are still struggling to find effective metrics for deciding who are the most influential players. This evolving landscape will challenge every PR practitioner, and those that meet the challenge will ultimately succeed.