Category: General

MyRagan’s fictional blogger Cassandra has a recent diatribe on her dealings with HR which has generated a lot of discussion on the site.

The post was well timed because the relationship between PR and HR is something I have been thinking about for some time.

However, I think I am coming to it from a different angle! 🙂

PR people often have a unique perspective across the depth and breadth of an organization.  Our work with different divisions and departments gives us excellent visibility and one of the only other departments that has that reach is HR.

Whether working in-house or on the agency side I have always found that HR is a fantastic partner.  Often our objectives are aligned and the HR folks can provide additional perspective that is an incredible asset for any PR practitioner.

The reality today is that people are the number one asset for every company on the planet – and people are at the centre of any successful PR campaign.

For me a strong working relationship with HR is an absolutely non-negotiable for PR. Building that relationship is essential for every PR practitioner whether you are in-house or on the agency side. The benefits, from better insight into internal challenges to increased PR opportunities are worth every minute of your time.

My advice is understand HR’s challenges and objectives.  Align yourself with them and you will create a fantastic environment which will have a positive impact on your internal and external communications programmes.

It’s all about building a strong partnership. The alternative doesn’t bear thinking about. 

Sometimes we all get caught up in the excitement and the new smell that emanates from Web 2.0, when we clearly still haven’t mastered Web 1.0 and technology from before 1994.

Given that journalists all around the globe consistently give out about misdirected, irrelevant pitches – we can assume that many PR people and firms don’t have the most rudimentary knowledge of databases, or more concerning don’t have the common sense to read a publication before pitching it.

Stories like this make me despair. [Via The World’s Leading..]

The growth of Web 2.0 and social networking should provide loads of opportunities for more bungles and disasters.

A busy July, what’s that all about? 

Why isn’t everyone off on holidays?

Facebook’s rapid adoption among us old (>30 it appears) people continues.

I enjoyed this WSJ story via Kevin Dugan… the mortification of your old thirty-something boss hanging out in Facebook… of course our revenge is the job interview… hahahaha… or maybe not.

Stuart has a link to a story on out-law.com where an IP expert claims that your employer might be able to take ownership of your social networking identity in certain circumstances:

“If a social networking site is used to hold any information which relates to your employment, if that information is prepared in the course of your employment you are dealing with company property,” said Turner.

[Allan Jenkins has an interesting post on the topic]

Of course we all (should) know by now that information is currency on the Internet and once it’s out there…. (from the WSJ):

Prospective employers also seem to have no compunction conducting searches on job applicants before they call them in for interviews. “We’ll Google them and I know that we’ve done MySpace searches,” says attorney Caroline Kert of prospective hires.

She’s mostly looking for slams against a former employer or exposed proprietary information. She says she’d never hold against applicants something like, say, a photo of them wearing a fur bikini. Good thing. Ms. Kert, a regular at the Burning Man Festival, has pictures of herself sporting just that on MySpace.

Kevin (who I am getting a little worried about) has also mapped the number of connections vs the length of membership between LinkedIn, MyRagan and Facebook – [he’s doing better than me across the board I should add] and it confirms that Facebook has taken off incredibly quickly with us oldies in the past month or so. [No disrespect Kevin 🙂 ]

I think LinkedIn and Facebook serve different masters (though LinkedIn won’t like my synopsis].  At it’s best, LinkedIn is a very select networking tool where you can keep track of contacts changing locations and roles with very little maintenance.  Facebook on the other hand – if it’s to be used effectively – requires a lot more effort.

Neville also provides us with his perspective on the Facebook adoption curve.

Interesting stuff. 

PS:

Congratulations to Stuart on the official launch of his new agency Wolfstar!

I’ve kept an eye on all this online stuff for a long time, I’ve moved through phases from passionate advocate to bored pragmatist and back again, but the big question that no one has the answer to is: where is all this stuff going?

Are we moving into a world (eventually) where everything is online? Are we moving into a hybrid world that blends online with traditional – and if so, what’s the mix?

This is a really tough question. It’s not enough to wave the Web 2.0 flag, nor to keep one’s head in the sand.  This is a serious matter.

I’m waiting for an answer.

I do still believe – that for the foreseeable future – we’ll have a blend. I think we’ll see some re-balancing with traditional media offering more online content, with channels such as blogs and podcasts capturing more visitors, with broad and special interest publications remaining important.

But that’s a guess – and not even a very educated one.

Maybe we need to wait for a shake up before we’ll get a better view.

In the meantime the vast majority of PR practitioners will continue to work with traditional projects, tools and channels while slowly blending online elements for specific clients or projects.

The Online world is impacting everyone’s reputation,but we’re still waiting for the tools that will enable PR practitioners to have a “conversation” with 3.2 million consumers.

I think there’s some preparatory work to be done in better understanding how out audience(s) is moving online.

Maybe the recent explosion in Facebook (even among the old farts) adoption will give us an insight into the broader implications of the online network.

Change is coming, but where, how and why is still a little unclear.

For those now tempted to write a startlingly intelligent comment about how “I don’t get it” and if “you’re not online it’s too late” – don’t bother. Here in the real world it’s not quite that simple.

We should embrace change – I do – but that doesn’t mean it’s not puzzling and confusing.

That’s why you have to keep your eye on it.  Try it.  Measure it.  Review it. Again. And again.

If anyone has the answer, drop me a line, we’ll keep it our little secret and clean up 🙂 . 

If you haven’t already done so, can I recommend you take ten minutes to read Paul Holmes’ “Manifesto for the 21st Century PR Firm”. [Paul’s blog is here].

This is a recommended read in terms of looking at how some of the changes taking place online may impact PR firms.

Very interesting stuff.

Our PR blog leader, Mr. Rubel has a similarly themed post, though while the message resonates, I can’t help feeling it’s a little simplified.

The reality (and the challenge) facing PR professionals today, both in-house and out-house, is understanding how we can support new outlets, techniques and channels while maintaining existing channels – which are still effective and important – and will be into the future.

That’s the really hard part.

I recommend both posts.

Ken Silverstein from Harper’s has done some undercover work for a story he’s written on Washington DC’s lobbyists.

As part of his research for the story he posed as a representative of a UK business with interests in Turkmenistan and contacted a few firms.

More from:

• Yellow is the Color
• PR Week

Has anyone thought about the implications for our business when we migrate our shoddier media relations practices to the wider general public in the interest of the “art of conversation”?

I think we need to invest in some datebases, some collaboration software and some common sense.

There’s a drinks company in Europe that has the slogan “nothing added but time”.  The inference of course being that time, is the most valuable element of all.

Time, it could be argued, is the single most important element when considering the impact of Web 2.0.

Time is scarce and incredibly valuable, and as our world continues to move more quickly it is becoming more valuable every day.

This is a theme, Neville discussed in last Friday’s For Immediate Release podcast (which has now passed the 250 mark – so Shel and Neville clearly have some secret sauce when it comes to time management).

I don’t know about you, but for me effective time management is becoming the most valuable skill of all.

The world of “social media”, “Web 2.0” etc. is creating new issues and this is where we need to start looking at the realities of the growth of online media.

For example, if you haven’t already read Brian Solis’ post on new media, I recommend it. Also take some time to check out Trevor Cook‘s updated paper on Social Media.

The thing that strikes me from reading both is the volume.  There’s more and more “stuff”. In addition, much of this “stuff” doesn’t replace what we already have, instead its an adjunct.

My problem is that there’s a hard limit on how much more I can do.  There are only a limited number of minutes in the day.  I have a day job and a family.

Unless something is interesting, compelling or essential, it’s not going to weasle it’s way into an already full schedule.

That’s why I maintain we are at the early stages of this move online.  A lot of these tools and services will die/change.  And while I think you should absolutely dabble and explore, unless it’s key to your professional life, I’d take the pragmatic root.

Look at social networking.  There’s loads of activity on Facebook (at the moment) so it’s worth keeping an eye on. LinkedIn, a much maligned service, is useful because it’s low maintenance. Although they’d love you to tinker with it and spam the world with invites, the reality is that set up is easy and you get alerted when one of your contacts changes jobs etc.  That’s very useful.

Myspace/Bebo etc.  well I’m a long time out of college. The reality is that I am incredibly selective where I invest my time.

I read RSS feeds, I read blogs, listen to (the odd) podcast, I tinker on Facebook for a few minutes here and there, post to Twitter once in every second blue moon and read updates from LinkedIn. Oh and the OnlinePR social network which now has over 50 members!

But I have hard limits.

I have always preached a pragmatic, don’t drink the Kool Aid approach.  No change there.  But with time becoming an even more valuable asset, decisions on investing it, become vital.

Social media, Web 2.0 will become more important – and in all probability will become a core part of your Public Relations jobs – but be careful how you engage with it.

Social media – there’s nothing to invest by time… 🙂

Apologies for the dearth of writing recently.  My real life has been a little busy.

Is it just me or has Face Book taken off in a big way (outside the realms of US students)? I seem to be getting a load of requests recently.

It’s funny when “young” (for young now read sub-30 – how depressing is that?) discover that I’m on Facebook.

They are amazed.

And I know their “amazement” is along the lines of: “what’s an old geezer like you doing on Facebook?”.

Now that’s depressing.

My SONIDS is showing no sign of abating.