WebSense Nonsense…
In a lesson for all PR types, Berlind calls WebSense into account for what is either a complete lapse of judgement or really unethical PR work. They’ve issued a release making all kinds of claims about the cost of "cyberslacking". I’ll leave it to you to click and read.
It’s this kind of beahvior that should get PR types censured by our industry bodies. Hacking other folks research and then slapping it back together, for a new purpose, really begs the question of ethics. It’s a mosaic at best, at worst it’s sensationalism.
Anyway, I’d challenge that surfing the web represents cyberslacking.
31 percent of online public opinion leaders have blogs
Article from Idil over at BM on the blogosphere… along with some good tips…
According to research from Burson-Marsteller, 31 percent of online public opinion leaders have blogs. The newsmaking process has become a collaborative process between the media and publics. Audiences who follow events through traditional and alternative channels, and sift piles of information to unravel a story, are replacing those who receive news only from well-known media outlets.
Murdoch On His Latest Buy…
News Corp acquired Intermix this morning – they run MySpace. Here’s what Murdoch had to say:
"What is happening is, in short, a revolution in the way young people are accessing news. They don’t want to rely on the morning paper for their up-to-date information. They don’t want to rely on a god-like figure from above to tell them what’s important. And to carry the religion analogy a bit further, they certainly don’t want news presented as gospel. Instead, they want their news on demand, when it works for them. They want control over their media, instead of being controlled by it."
Good List Of Blog Best Practices
From Shel and Scoble. I really disagree with some of Scoble’s recent comments on not making your posts accurate in terms of content. But this is a pretty good list of best practices.
I really like the idea of writing a book as a blog. Wonder if comms teams shouldn’t do the same for company publications?
Public Relationships…
Public relationships has been what Public Relations has been about since the phrase was first coined. Read any history of the industry. The future, much like the past, will all be about public relationships albeit in new ways with new tools. But, IMHO, defining it in these terms is of little help to any PR practitioner. What we do need a deeper understanding of what this Participatory Era is all about. I’m not just talking the need for a new tag.
I see and meet many communications professionals working hard to understand what to do next. Much of the focus is around using all the new technology we have at our disposal to engage in deeper conversations with communities – not just audiences – that surround products and businesses. And, how to participate authentically with them. In this context, Blogs are not public relationships. They are however a tool or platform for engaging in the kind of dialog that underpins healthy relationships.
Another notion I’d like to challenge is the premise that companies could communicate much more
effectively in this Era by just encouraging everyone to chatter away. This is as much of a
bunk as the notion that PR people are purely intermediaries and connectors. I’m not saying it will work or not work exclusively – but as a
premise its nonsensical. It assumes that "the public" actually cares
about the thousands of opinions a company might express through these
thousands of micro-channels, let alone that they have the time to do
it. And, maybe PR people have an even greater role as intermediaries – just not with the other intermediaries: the media, influencers and pundits – but now directly with their communities?
Now, I’m not saying don’t let people blog. I advocate quite the opposite.
Let them at it. But viewing this as a communications strategy is a big mistake. What it really misses is what the audience wants. What is important here isn’t what we want PR to become but what communities want from their partners. That will define what PR is.
In fact, where PR really gets challenged is that their intermediaries are becoming less important. With the emergence of direct communications channels like podcasts and blogs I want to hear directly from the source. I’m not interested in anyone who is an intermediary – traditional media and pundits esp. And I’m increasingly frustrated that some of my favorite brands (they all begin with A) haven’t got this yet.
Anyway, what so many of these posts miss is that the people driving the spin and opacity in communications today are primarily the business and marketing leaders – OK, PR people are in the mix – but they aren’t the driver. Pointing to PR people and the profession as the origin of the problem is a total cop-out. We need to move this dialog into the c-suite. This revolution we are in the midst of is all about changing the ways companies communicate and that needs to start at the top.
I also don’t know what the PR industry will look like in 10 years (although I have some ideas). What I do know is that a deeper understanding of what it is today and what it has been are desperately needed if we are to really grasp the implications of blogging and the Participatory Era for business – and the business of communicating.
