No much.
It is amazing that the PR industry is so resistant to change, especially
when it comes to technology that changes the way people communicate.
Case in point: Joan Stewart, the Publicity Hound, attended a big PR
convention in San Francisco this week and writes:
“Blogs are the hottest thing going. Yet the vast Majority of PR people here
have the deer-in-the-headlights look when you mention
blogs. Several I met are almost belligerent toward them. Others said
Their bosses already have said, “absoloutely no blogs.” Amazing.
I can’t say I’m surprised.
I faced the same reaction when I spoke at PRSA in the early 1990′s about
using email to communicate with reporters.
I faced the same reaction when I spoke to PRSA in the mid 1990′s about using
websites and ezines to communicate with reporters, employees and the
community.
In fact, I did a paper survey after the second talk and found that among 127
people who responded, just about everyone considered the Internet a bother.
In the words of one person, “It’s just another (expletive deleted) thing I
have to do.”
It is truly amazing that people who supposedly dedicate their lives to
communication resist tools that make it easier to communicate!
This is yet another reason why I like to work for a smaller firm, they tend to be so much flexible. I have a couple blog success stories under my belt already. Blogs work particularly well in settings when you need to communicate but don´t have time to be formal or need to issue official statements. Almost all of my NGO clients now use blogs and I´m hoping the private sector ones will follow.
Blogs, Web sites, Digital printing are all a bother to public relations folks. If I had a nickle for everytime I heard, “The web only added it didn’t take anything away,” then I wouldn’t be looking over my shoulder making sure the boss isn’t walking in as I type this.
What these items have added are new avenues for us to be better public relation professionals. What they’ve added are new audiences for the client — which is what we are getting paid to do, right?