PR 2.0 Has Rules Of It’s Own

PR Professionals need to be trained so they avoid the pitfalls of online PR

Over the past two years the internet has been changing from a deposit ory of static inf ormation to a vibrant, live conversation. Now referred to as Web 2.0, the live web is a very different place. Instead of using online photo albums we now have Flickr and YouTube. Instead of the Encyclopedia Britannica online, we have Wikipedia. And as F ortune Magazine said, we have blogs – f or better or w orse.

Web 2.0 has given the average person the power of voice. The barriers to online publishing are gone. Anyone can set up a blog in mere minutes and have their say online. In text, images and video. They can podcast and videocast. They can syndicate their thoughts and ideas in an RSS feed, making their comments visible to the entire w orld. And unlike print, it won’t disappear in a few weeks or months. It’s there f or the duration.

What does this mean f or public relations? No longer are we crafting one way messages that we can control. We are not doing media relations anym ore – it has indeed become public relations. There is a public conversation going on and as a PR practitioner you need to learn how to be a part of this conversation.

What w orks in traditional PR does not always w ork in PR 2.0. Of course the basic rules of communication are still the same, but the online w orld has its own set of rules.

We’re used to looking f or a few influencers who reach many individuals,. Now we have to find many influencers who might only be reaching a few individuals, but they’re all connected and in communication with one another.

W ord of mouth is still the Holy Grail, but now it’s w ord of mouse and it’s lightning fast. There is no longer a slow feedback process – once an idea, or meme, takes hold in the blogosphere it will reach millions of like-minded folk in a very sh ort space of time.

Authenticity and transparency are paramount. Some agencies and in-house PR people have learned this lesson the hard way. The Dell Hell debacle need never have happened if their PR department were up to speed on PR 2.0.

What was the PR department at Panasonic thinking when they invented a fake persona f or a blogger? And the recent Edelman fiasco with their fake WalMart blogs is a perfect case in point. An agency that was supposedly leading the way in PR 2.0 put both their feet right in the proverbial substance. And it hit the fan, big time. Do a Google search on fake Wal-Mart blog to see the fall out.

Richard Edeleman said he is making sure that his staff gets m ore training. And that’s the crux of the matter. PR 2.0 is a new discipline. It’s not something you choose to learn, or not. It’s here and it’s here to stay. Your audience is no longer where they were. They are getting their news and inf ormation online and you need to learn how to reach them – effectively.

Perhaps some PR firms just didn’t get the memo, comented one blogger. Perhaps not, since PR 2.0 training is not yet widespread.

Only one in four universities in the UK are adapting their courses to reflect advances in social media. In the US, just 28 per cent of PR course content includes modules on blogging and new media techniques.

In other European markets, the trend is similar, with a minority of university PR and marketing degrees incorporating any online communications elements.

It’s time for a change – it’s way overdue vitally needed.

PR 2.0 training resources

Bulldog Reporter Advanced PR Technology in Practice