Blink and they're gone: PR and the battle for attention

Are you paying attention? It's a question teachers have asked students from time immemorial - yet it's relevant, too, for public relations practitioners who should take note of developments affecting the way people process and focus (or not) on the material presented to them. Debate about the average length of a human attention span can obscure the salient features of these developments and consideration of how public relations could respond to them. While not offering solutions, this paper suggests that several areas warrant review, including the place of visual communication; engaging with the implications of increasing use of mobile devices and with the fast-developing field of The Internet of Things. The paper also applies information foraging theory to public relations practice, suggesting it offers a pointer to how practitioners might approach their communication tasks.