RESEARCH RESULTS ON THE USE OF INTERNET AS COMMUNICATION TOOL ACROSS VARIOUS GENERATION COHORTS IN INDONESIA

Abstract

One of the traditional functions of public relations is to influence perceptions of internal and external
publics through communication. In order to accomplish this, appropriate use of communication
channels is necessary to send accurate and timely information to the target audiences. Presently, more
and more target audiences are equipped with information and communication technology that make
them enable to access internet as the whole new arena where publics interact in a network of online
computers. It means that whatever messages that are coming to their life would be checked across their
online communities. This research is conducted to study the communication behaviors of the old and
new generations of internet users in Indonesia who are fond of connecting themselves to the cyber
world. The main targets are to investigate and to identify the impacts of their behaviors that challenge
the existing public relations practices. The results of the study shows that there are similarities and
differences among the four generations of people - namely Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Xers, and
Millennials - in conducting their online communication. Some of them are considered to have direct
impacts on how public relations should be conducted today towards these online communities to gain
the expected results.