Easy as 1-2-3 (and Other PR Blog Jots)
PR Week Needs to Take it Down a Notch
PR 2.0
In a much-linked, fiery (in a good way!) post, Brian Solis argues that PR Week jumped the gun in a recent article arguing that PR has officially entered a “3.0” era. The article cites “astounding” growth at major PR firms and appears to determine PR’s new era solely on the basis of increasing revenues. Solis points out that the PR industry is still working on 2.0, and that while the evolution thus far is impressive, to call it “3.0” at this point is quite a leap. “New PR, PR 2.0, whatever you want to call it, is more about being “smart” enough to participate at an entirely new and more valuable level of engagement. It’s about reading the publications, blogs, networks, where you want to participate. It’s about living and breathing the product/service we represent. It’s the difference between spin and evangelism. It’s also the difference between storytelling and influence. It all eventually merges back into PR – with a long trail of communications professionals that will be forced to jump ship for the betterment of the PR industry as a whole.”
Murphy’s Law
In a somewhat more irreverent take on the kerfuffle surrounding PR Week’s “3.0” assertion, Tom Murphy points out the inherent silliness in applying numbers to any sort of industry evolution. He argues the practice is really a little pointless, and that the conversation ought to be about the new methods and tools, not what to call them. “There appears to be a growing number of PR people on the InterWeb with ADD. Rather than just discuss the changes taking place to PR in terms of new tools (e.g. blogs and podcasts) or practices (e.g. conversation) they have to give it a new moniker - normally a number. Why? Use what works, watch what’s interesting and discard what’s irrelevant.”
Strategic Public Relations
While remarking that certain customer service disasters (such as Jet Blue’s Valentine’s Day “hostage” crisis) are beyond help after a certain point, Kevin Dugan pushes companies to view smaller incidents as opportunities to aggressively seek out positive word of mouth—or least reign in the negative. By going above and beyond to meet the customer’s needs once the complaint has been registered rather than doing the bare minimum, companies will see positive returns and avoid potential blogosphere disasters. “It may read unrealistic and it's certainly not universally applicable. But you’ve already identified the customer as vocal. Why not use it to your advantage and give them something great to talk about?”
The Flack
Peter Himler praises the mainstream media reaction to the Virginia Tech shootings, noting that they seemed to embrace social media elements in the wake of the tragedy. Newspapers purchased keywords on search engines, NBC News set up a Facebook account to encourage students to share their stories, and many outlets monitored student blogs and networking sites for up to the minute information. “Obviously, there are countless other instances of how this one story provided a showcase for the practice of journalism in this day and age. And I believe it's just the tip of the transformational iceberg.”
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