ABSTRACT
Most college students today have probably heard the phrase “global village”. Originally referring to the Worldwide Web’s ability to connect computer users around the globe, the phrase has come
to signify life in an interconnected, cross-cultural, increasingly boundary-less society. Many professions have been altered radically by the opportunity to engage more easily the world’s citizens and consumers in the global village. Public relations is no exception. More than a decade ago, noted international public relations practitioner Joe Epley (1992) predicted what the public relations profession would be like in this emerging era. As if gazing into a crystal ball, Epley suggested that public relations would play an important role in an increasingly interdependent global society. He predicted that communication technology, the realignment of economic power, the emergence of issues that recognize no political boundary, and the prospect of world peace would shape public relations fundamentally in the twenty-first century.
