Evolving to PR in the AI Era! Udemy Course "PR Strategies for Business Management" Renewed

PR consultants Hanae Matsuya and Miho Sakai have developed the PR method "Social Connect®" (hereinafter, Social Connect) with the concept of "creating social connections and spreading information." Based on this method, the Udemy course "PR Strategies for Business Management," which opened on April 22, 2025, celebrated its first anniversary on April 22, 2026. Thanks to overwhelming support, the number of participants has exceeded 260 (as of April 2026), and the course has also been adopted by Udemy Business, being utilized by many as part of corporate training. The Social Connect method is steadily gaining support in the field of public relations. To commemorate its first anniversary, a new chapter "PR Activities in the AI Era" has been added to the course, and a newly developed AI tool, "Press Release Creation AI by Social Connect®," has been released, available exclusively to Udemy course participants. Additionally, a limited-time discount campaign offering the course at a special price of 1,500 yen will be available until May 22, 2026 (Friday). **AI Utilization in PR: Beyond Writing Efficiency – Towards Integration with Business Strategy** Over the past year, the utilization of AI in public relations has rapidly advanced. According to a 2025 survey by the Japan Society for Corporate Communications (※1), the AI adoption rate in PR departments reached 77%, more than doubling from the previous year. AI has already become a daily operational foundation as a tool to support "writing," such as creating press releases and brainstorming titles. Simultaneously, the societal positioning of AI has significantly changed over the past year. What was once discussed as an "efficiency tool," AI began to be positioned as part of business strategy in 2026, aiming to "incorporate into decision-making itself and transform the organization's structure." Public relations, by its very nature, is part of a company's business strategy. What to communicate, when, and to whom, is nothing less than a crucial decision-making process that indicates the company's direction to society. This is why we created the course "PR Strategies for Business Management." We believe that AI utilization in PR should not be limited to "writing efficiency" but should be strategically designed to disseminate information based on the company's business strategy, leading to impactful outcomes. ※1 Japan Society for Corporate Communications "AI adoption rate in PR departments reaches 77%, more than double | 2025 marks a major turning point" (2nd Survey Report on the Utilization of Generative AI in PR) https://www.jsccs.jp/activity/report/ai77-20252-ai.html **New Chapter "PR Activities in the AI Era": A Two-pronged Approach Embracing AI Learning Characteristics** To commemorate the first anniversary, a new chapter "PR Activities in the AI Era" has been added to the Udemy course. This chapter systematically explains how companies should design and disseminate information in an era where AI becomes an "information evaluator." * In the AI era, there is a tendency for "common facts" and "reliable sources" to be more readily indicated. * Practical methods for neutralizing information (conversion to objective data, utilization of third-party perspectives). * Risks of leaving misinformation unaddressed (danger of AI learning and further spreading misinformation). * Misinformation countermeasures in the AI era (new common sense of immediate correction, how to write correction statements). This content provides valuable knowledge not only for PR personnel but also for management and marketing personnel. **Exclusive to Students: AI Tool "Press Release Creation AI by Social Connect®"** While Udemy's online courses allow students to learn at their own pace, we cannot directly provide individual advice to each student. We developed this AI with the desire to create a mechanism to deliver feedback from Social Connect's perspective when students are unsure about the correct approach to PR. This AI tool is designed based on the content of the Udemy course "PR Strategies for Business Management" and the "Social Connect®" method. * Trained on approximately 300 high-quality press releases carefully selected from open sources, primarily PR cases involving Matsuya, and press releases published on PR TIMES. * Learned not only the text of the releases but also practical PR knowledge such as media trends, the presence of press conferences, and angles supported by interviews. * Easy to use: simply input company name, message, genre, and target media, and it generates a draft press release and advice from the Social Connect perspective. The processing is done via Anthropic's API, and input data is not stored on the operator's server (※2).